Le gratin appelé « Morbiflette »

La Morbiflette is a gratin de pommes de terre that greatly resembles the better-known Tartiflette, which is made not far south of Geneva (Switzerland) in the Alps in the area called la Savoie. The little town of Morbier (pop. 2,400 or so) is just 25 miles north of Geneva.

 

Both of these gratins are made of blanched (partially cooked) potatoes peeled and then sliced into rounds before being browned lightly in oil or butter on a baking sheet in the oven or in a frying pan on the stovetop. The rondelles de pomme de terre are arranged in a baking dish in layers and cooked in a hot oven with sauteed onions and smoked lardons, along with cream, white wine, and Morbier cheese.

 

The Morbier cheese's distinctive feature is a line of vegetable ash that runs through the middle of a wheel of the cheese. Morbier is mild-tasting (as is the cheese that the Tartiflette is made from, called Reblochon) and melts smoothly. The crust of both these cheeses is edible, like the crust of Brie or Camembert, as is the ash in the Morbier. (The broccoli in my photos is some that I steamed for us to have as a side dish.)

My Morbiflette as it came out of the oven...
Here's a link to a recipe in French.

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After you sautee the onions and lardons, lightly oil an oven-proof dish and put in a first layer of sliced potatoes. Then put a layer of sauteed onions and lardons over them. Put on another layer of potatoes and pour on some cream and a splash of white wine. Slice the Morbier cheese and spread the slices over the potato mixture. Cook the Morbiflette in a hot oven until the potatoes are tender and the cheese has melted and started to turn a golden brown color. The cream and wine will have mostly evaporated when the Morbiflette is done. Be careful not to burn your mouth when you eat it.

P.S. If you're in the U.S. I don't know whether you can find Morbier cheese or not. I believe the Reblochon cheese used to make a Tartiflette is not imported into the U.S. Also, my innovation here was to make the Morbiflette not with smoked-pork lardons but with diced-up smoked chicken that I happened to have in the refrigerator.

La Renaudière : couleurs locales

Yesterday's snow shower was over by about 10 a.m. It turned into rain and the rain lasted until mid-afternoon. By the time I went out for a walk with the dog, it had ended. Today marks two months that I've been suffering with this chest cold/bronchitis. It's not as bad as it way back in January and February, but the symptoms — congestion, itchy eyes, coughing, sneezing — just won't go away. Still, I need to go out and walk with Tasha the Sheltie every day. Walks are longer or shorter depending on the weather.

I spend a lot of time in the kitchen cooking these days. Yesterday I made something that I had never even heard of a few months ago. It's called une morbiflette. Have you ever heard of it? More to come... A few days ago I made chicken noodle soup. Before that, North African couscous with lots of vegetables, as well as Asian-style stir-fries with either rice or noodles. And baked beans with bacon. Today's lunch will be lasagna with spinach, ricotta, and mozzarella. There's a theme in here somewhere.

You call that snow?

After predicting it for days, the weather people finally delivered. We got a little bit of snow this morning. I took the picture of our Peugeot at about 6:30a.m. Walt just looked out and said the snowflakes are turning into raindrops already. It's cold outside (and wet) but it's slightly above freezing. The red dot on the weather map shows the approximate location of Saint-Aignan. Paris is 150 miles north and the city of Tours is 35 miles west from us.

Early spring flowers

Yesterday I went out early with the dog for our morning walk. It was cold and very wet out there. These are some photos I took in our yard and in the neighbors' yard across the road from our house. They aren't here right now, and we keep an eye on their place so we can let them know if anything seems amiss.

Above are two pictures of the plum tree that I grew from pits starting at least a decade ago. It has really grown a lot over the past couple of years because we've had so much rain. Nobody mentions drought any more so I assume it is over now. We lost half a dozen trees to drought over those five or so dry years.

Above left is a flowering branch of a forsythia bust that was already growing here when we came to live here in 2003. Walt takes good care of it, pruning and shaping it every year. On the right are some of the premula (primrose) plants that come up spontaneously in our yard and in the neighbor's yard too. The woman who sold us the house 22 years ago said when she lived here she would buy pots of primroses every spring and then throw the root balls out into the yard at the end of their growing season. They started coming back up in early spring every year, and they continue to do so.

Above left is what I think is a flowering quince tree that blooms early in the spring every year in our neighbors' yard. On the right is the flower stalk of what people here call a saxifrage plant ("elephant's ears" or Bergenia cordifolia, I think). It was growing here when we moved in as well.

20 years ago in March

No, this isn't today or yesterday. It's a photo I took of our back yard in early March 2005 — twenty years ago. It didn't turn into a major snowstorm, but we had been living here for less than two years and we didn't know what to expect. Today, according to TéléMatin, snow is swirling all around us, but it doesn't look like we'll get any. In areas south of us, however, which are at higher altitudes than Saint-Aignan is, snow will fall. When I let Tasha go out to pee in the back yard at 5 o'clock this morning, it was raining lightly outside.

Snow today?

There's been talk of snow, or at least sleet, on different weather reports this week. Some have said the temperature would be down near freezing again this morning. But so far that hasn't happened. The temperature is about 40ºF right now (6:00 a.m.). Rain is still in the forecast. Spring is a season of fits and starts here. These are some vineyard photos that I took a week ago, on my birthday.

A gourmet treat out of a can

Yes, I mean it. It's what we had for lunch yesterday. I don't remember ever before buying cans of haricots blancs à la tomate, but now I know they are delicious. And nutritious. Look at the label on the can. It says these beans rate a nutri-score of A and are riches en protéines. The ingredients are eau, haricots blancs trempés, concentré de tomates, huile de colza, sel, sucre, et arôme naturel. A large-size can of plain white beans sells for 1.02 euros at Intermarché here in Saint-Aignan. A large-size of white beans with tomato paste in them goes for 1.12 euros. Both are a bargain.

I don't know about you, but in North Carolina I grew up eating what we called "pork and beans" out of cans. My mother also cooked a lot of dried beans as well. I posted about them a couple of weeks ago. White beans are the basis for the French specialty called un cassoulet, which is white beans cooked with duck, lamb, and/or pork or pork sausages (saucisses de Toulouse).

Yesterday, I didn't take the time to make an actual cassoulet. I also wouldn't call what I made Boston baked beans, because I didn't put molasses in it. I did add some spices and some other flavoring ingredients including Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and maple syrup (but not too much). What we had was just pork and beans. They cooked for about 90 minutes. And were delicious.

On dirait le bon vieux temps

Twice this past week, I went out with Tasha the sheltie and my current digital camera (my mobile phone). I took pictures of the sunrise and the local landscapes.

Don't worry though. It won't last. It's supposed to rain all week. Actually, it rained all day yesterday.

Kung Pao Pork

It all started with a nice head of broccoli and some tri-colored bell peppers. The broccoli was fresh; the peppers were frozen. Whenever I go to the supermarket, I buy broccoli if there is some to buy. We keep a bag or two of bell peppers in the freezer at all times, or whenever we find them in the freezer section.

A few days ago, I noticed a tray of lean pork tenderloin pavés (thick-cut steaks; pavé means "paving stone"). It was the only one, and I grabbed it for the modest sum of 3.5 euros. Yesterday these ingredients came together to make a recipe called Kung Pao pork, using soy sauce, srirasha sauce, and other sweet and/or salty Asian sauces that we keep on hand.

I cut the pork loin into strips and marinated and then stir-fried them with some chopped shallots and garlic cloves. I cut the broccoli into florets and blanched those broccoli separately in a steamer pot. Then I put them in the wok with the pork and poured on the remainder of the marinade the pork had bathed in. I stirred all that together, added the peppers, and voilà... Kung Pao! We sprinkled on roasted peanuts at the table. We also steamed some frozen pot stickers from the supermarket to make steamed dumplings as an accompaniment. Lunch was served, and the pork was very tender.

First signs of spring

Yesterday morning the temperature was much warmer than it has been recently (between 45 and 48ºF compared to temperatures just below freezing or barely above). Also, it hasn't rained much recently so it isn't quite so muddy out in the vineyard. So I did something I haven't done in quite a while: I grabbed my camera and took to out on a fairly long walk with Tasha the sheltie). In this case, the camera is one built into my mobile phone. I was trying it out outdoors for about the first time since I bought it three or four months ago.

As you can see, primroses and other flowers are starting to come into blossom, and the sunrise was pretty. I wish my body would shake off the last remnants of my long-lasting chest cold, but I'm not there yet.

March sunrise

Two views of our sunrise on March 04, 2025, from the kitchen window

The birthday couscous

Here's the couscous we had as my birthday lunch yesterday. I see (and ate) chicken, lamb, and sausages along with carrots, onions, turnips, green beans, zucchini, and eggplant in the wok.

And here it is on my plate where you can see the aforementioned ingredients as well as the couscous grain you eat them with.

One key ingredient is the sausage called une merguez, which is made with beef and lamb (no pork) and spices including paprika and cayenne pepper.