Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. You COULD be like every other person out there and buy a giant heart-shaped balloon. Or a $4 card that will get thrown away. Or chocolate that will just make you feel gross after eating 36 pieces of it.
Or you COULD enjoy a night of raclette with your special someone . . . or a group of single friends . . . or just yourself.
Raclette isn't picky. Raclette loves everyone.
Raclette is essentially a Swiss cheese that's known for melting beautifully. In the Alps -- and even in some nicer restaurants in places like New York and Chicago -- entire wheels of cheese are melted and then scraped onto mounds of potatoes and meat, pickles and veggies.
Let's take a moment to imagine all that melty dairy goodness on your plate.
Ahhhh.
If, though, your budget doesn't allow you to hop a flight overseas, you can enjoy raclette at home on Valentine's Day, Christmas Day (as pictured above . . . and below), Tuesday, Saturday, ok, everyday.
Because my farmer loves meat and vegetables, I gave him a raclette grill for Christmas. (Thank you, Jeff Bezos and Amazon.) It's an eight-person tabletop grill with trays for melting cheese underneath. He's smitten.
Sometimes with me, but mostly just with raclette.
Raclette is a perfect dinner party meal, but it's also a lovely meal for two. Because each person is concocting his own series of little meals on the grill, it lends itself to a we're-not-rushing, pour-another-glass-of-wine, enjoy-the-dinner-conversation feel.
It works well for the hostess too, who can prep everything in advance and then set it on the table for guests to dish up as they choose. So far, I've served marinated chicken, shrimp, and beef. I also boil small potatoes and cut them up so that they cook a little faster on the grill. Mushrooms, corn, zucchini, peppers, onions -- you name the veggie and it works for raclette.
Traditional raclette also usually includes some charcuterie like proscuitto or ham, as well as cornichons. Add some herbs to the mix, set out some olive oil for the grill, and slice up some good melting cheese (Swiss and gruyere work well if you don't have raclette in your area). Cook up your meat and veggies, lay them on some proscuitto, pour your melted cheese over the top, and roll it up like a taco. Or cook some veggies, cover in melted cheese, and scoop up with a cornichon.
Cut up and butter some French bread for toasting on the grill, make a large salad, open a bottle of a dry red wine, and your Valentine will swear off giant teddy bears and red roses forever.
How can Hallmark compete with you and cheese? Because when it comes to raclette, you'll have him saying, "I'm udderly head over hooves for you" before he puts his second round of veggies on the grill!
Cheesy, I know.
(Should I stop now?
Ok, I'll stop now.
But seriously, raclette for Valentine's Day! Flowers are so overrated.)
