Une raclette pour le repas de midi

Yesterday's lunch was une raclette featuring a cheese that's also called raclette, along with cold cuts, steamed potatoes, thick-sliced raw mushrooms, and bundles of green beans held together by strips of ham and toothpicks.

    
In the photo above, you can see the little non-stick trays in which you melt cheese under a heating element. Meanwhile, as above, the other ingredients are cooking on a griddle that sits on top of the heating element. If you have good timing and keep two trays of cheese melting, you can eat the raclette ingredients without waiting for more cheese to melt.

The potatoes and green beans are pre-cooked, as are some of the meats. The mushrooms cook on the griddle and are really good with the melted cheese, which is pretty mild-tasting. Another ingredient that's really good done this way is steamed brussels sprouts cut in half, with the cut side browned lightly on the griddle. Cauliflower or broccoli would be good done the same way.

    
Another ingredient we've never used in raclette before is the darkly smoked sliced duck breast on the right below, next to some sliced dry salami from Lyon called rosette. Don't forget the French bread and red wine.