Raclette chez Lillie

As is standard procedure when in Val d'Isere, we were invited to Lillie's for one of her signature Savoyarde meals. This will either be farcon, tartiflette or raclette. At around eighty years old, she has plenty of experience of cooking these dishes and comes up trumps every time, resulting in us all leaving absolutely stuffed full of cheese. This time it was raclette which we were invited for. Now, this is probably the simplest of these three meals to prepare, it essentially consisting of melted cheese with potatoes and assorted charcuterie, pickles, etc. If not done correctly, however, it might become a bland mixture of ingredients, and without the correct preparation the eating of raclette will not be quite the celebratory event that it should be. As you can see from the plates we were each faced with, attention to detail was a defining element of Lillie's forte...

Sadly Lillie's husband Theo, who would normally take charge of raclette carving, died a few years ago so Philippe or his sister Joel replace him at the helm. The cheese is heated under the grill until it comes to a ferocious bubble, darkening in patches like a piece of parchment. With a tilt of the mechanism, it can then be scraped off in one swoop onto an awaiting plate below. We were each given ours in turn, ready to be accompanied with the delights around the table. The new potatoes were brought especially from Lyon by friends who had grown them in their garden, and were the sweetest I have ever tasted. A slice of soft earthy tuber, crammed onto a fork with a piece of ham, half a cornichon and oily cheese cannot easily be topped as a casual dinner after a day of exercise on cold mountains.

As if we hadn't had enough after two - if not three - helpings of this, Lillie brought out a huge bowl of local 'doughnuts'. These are basically batter fried in flute shapes sprinkled with icing sugar. With a bowl of fruit salad, they made a perfect afterthought to such a heavy meal. During the course of the evening, a snow storm had started and we had to brave the cold as we left such a cozy apartment. We were luckily armed with gifts of Lillie's jams: 'myrtille-groseille' (blackcurrant and redcurrant) and framboise-groseille (raspberry and redcurrant), with the berries all hand-picked from the mountains. Her curly french handwriting makes them look beautiful enough, but tasted on toast, or even with soft goats cheese, a whole other league of appreciation is gained. The best party-bag ever.