During this season of open houses and large family dinners, why not prepare something special and guaranteed to impress your guests as they come in from the cold: La Tarte Flambée - a traditional Alsatian dish which can be served as appetizer or main course depending on your mood.
Tarte flambée is a simple dish, much like a thin crust pizza without the tomato sauce. Yet, it is quite far in flavour from any pizza of your choice as it is baked with crème fraiche, cheese curds, double-smoked bacon and onion slices. Here are the ingredients:
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| Tarte flambée served last Christmas. |
1 cup milk, warmed
1 tbs melted butter
1/2 cup warm water
1 tbs dry active yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup diced double smoked bacon, or
1 cup sliced mushrooms (for vegetarians)
1/2 cup crème fraiche
1 cup cheese curds
Add water, sugar and yeast to a small bowl. Leave untouched for 10 minutes. In a large bowl, add flour and salt. Then add the yeast mixture, milk and butter. Mix thoroughly until you get a dough consistency. You may add some flour or water if the mixture is too wet or too dry. Knead the dough in the bowl and form it into a large ball. Cover with cloth and let rise for one hour or until it doubles in size. Punch the risen dough and shape into a ball again for second rising for 15 minutes. Heat the oven to 500F or hotter (hence the name of this dish). Flatten dough on a large parchment paper with a roller until it is quite thin. Transfer the flattened dough and paper to a baking sheet. Add onion slices, double-smoked bacon slices or mushroom slices, cheese curds and crème fraiche. Sprinkle some sea salt and ground nutmeg. Bake for 10 minutes or until the top of the dough turns light golden as the curds melt. Slice into wedges and serve immediately. Your kitchen will be filled with delicious aroma that can seduce any hungry soul. Serve with a cold lager or Riesling.
Prost!
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