Roasted potato in the French way
Is there anyone who doesn’t like Roasted potato?
When the whole house smells like potatoes, and I put a mixture of mayonnaise and sour cream (because today isn’t Monday and we are not on diet), I could easily eat 10 big potatoes at once.
components
- 500 gr Mont D'Or
- 50 ml of white dry wine (or white wine from the Jura area in France)
- 4 big red potatoes
Instruction
- Wash the potato, wrap it in aluminum foil and bake in the oven at 210°C for about 60 minutes.
- Leave Mont D'Or cheese in a bowl you bought it with (if it's from the natural material you can put it in the oven). Wrap the lower part of the bowl in aluminum foil.
- Cut the upper part on the surface, make a cross. Twist the crust a bit and pour the wine in.
- Bake in the oven (with or without the cover) for 20 minutes.
- Once it's all done, take it out of the oven and serve the hot potato with hot melted cheese. You can enjoy it with some good white wine.
Now, the question is…which potato from the oven is the best?
I already told you once that there are dozens of potato types in France and how difficult it was to choose the right type for my dish.
And not to mention how much I needed to learn about it all.
For some basic guidelines of types of potato, read this post.
For me, the red one is the best for the oven and foil.
What is French in all this?
It’s certainly something you have been wondering because it says so in the title of this recipe, although potato from the oven is not something that exists only in France.
It is the cheese that goes with the potatoes that is French.
I will use this occasion to introduce you to a type of French cheese that you must try if you ever have the chance.
Mont d’Or
This cheese one of those types over which possession the French and the Swiss always fight. The Swiss have this type too, and it’s called Vacherin Mont D’Or (place Vaud in Switzerland) which translates to cow Mont D’or.
To confuse you even more, I will tell you that both of them are cow cheese.
What is the difference then?
D’Or is the name of the massif where this cheese comes from, that is, where the cows are raised, of a specific type of course. The climate and vegetation have an effect on the quality and milk flavour. But, milk processing has its effects, too.
So, the Swiss thermally process milk before transforming it into cheese, whereas the French use fresh unprocessed milk. And that is the difference.
This cheese is always put into a bowl made from natural material. It is of a slightly pink/cream colour and it has a wavy and fluffy crust. It’s very creamy and prepared in an oven, in the same bowl it goes with.
Mont d’Or belongs to a group of cheeses (cheese with soft and clean crust) à pâte molle à croûte lavée
This is a family of cheese that intoxicates with its flavour, but it doesn’t mean that this flavour is strong and unpleasant. This is the case with Mont d’Or.
Where and how?
If there is no way you can buy Mont d’Or, Raclette or Camembert is a great substitute. And it goes great with potatoes from the oven.
The point here is not so much in the recipe, but in French cheeses which you should try. And I wanted to share with you a bit of my knowledge and experience from France 🙂
