Easy French Comfort Food: Creamy Potatoes & Pancetta (Tartiflette)
A quick recipe for easy French comfort food with potatoes and pancetta in a white wine and cream sauce.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs Yukon gold potatoes
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 4 oz uncured pancetta
- 3/4 cup white cooking wine
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 8 oz Gruyere
- Gruyere slices optional
- butter for the baking dish
- sea salt/kosher salt
Instructions
- Grate 1 ½ cups of cheese from the 8 oz block. Slice the remaining cheese into small squares. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Add a generous amount of salt (I used coarse sea salt) to a large pot of water and bring to a boil.
- While the water heats, wash the potatoes and cut them into large cubes. You do not have to peel the potatoes, in fact, the skin helps hold them together in the final dish.
- Gently lower the prepared potatoes into the boiling water.
- Parboil the potatoes, cooking them until they are tender but slightly firm, about 15 minutes. They will finish cooking in the oven.
- While you wait for the potatoes, cut a medium yellow onion in half and then slice each half. Set aside.
- Stack a few of the pancetta slices and cut them into strips. Cut the strips to form squares. Set aside.
- Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat.
- Add the onion to the skillet. Lightly salt the onion and cook until it is soft and translucent, about 7 minutes. Be sure to stir the onion occasionally during the process.
- Add the pancetta to the onions and cook until brown, about 4 minutes.
- Add the white wine to the skillet with the onions and the pancetta. Lower the heat to medium and allow the wine to simmer and cook down by at least half, about 3 minutes.
- Lower the heat and keep just warm until the potatoes are ready.
- Drain the potatoes and place them in a colander.
- Run cold water over the potatoes until they are cool enough to handle.
- Thickly slice the potatoes.
- Generously grease the bottom and sides of a 9x13 inch baking pan or casserole dish with butter.
- Add the sliced potatoes to the prepared pan.
- Add the onion, pancetta, and wine to the potatoes and toss to combine.
- Add 1 cup of grated cheese and toss to combine.
- Pour the heavy cream evenly over the surface of the potato/pancetta mix.
- Sprinkle the remaining cheese evenly over the surface.
- If using, top with the slices of cheese.
- Bake, uncovered, until the cheese is melted and golden brown and the sauce is bubbly, about 15 minutes.
- Season with salt to taste.