September 2010

How to host a raclette dinner party

If you’re looking for a show-stopping menu to serve your friends for the 82nd Academy Awards this Sunday, look no further than your very own raclette!

The Academy Awards is a glam and glittering affair on the small screen, but in our homes we prefer the laid-back, casual atmosphere of friends and family, perhaps gathered around the table for a pre-Oscar meal or just a friendly out-of-the-norm get-together. With an electric raclette as the centrepiece, start your Oscar party with shrimp sizzling on the grill top. Then turn the spotlight to cheese – melting it under the grill and slathering it over potatoes or colourful vegetables, smoky or cured meats and fish – and, of course, pickles. On with the show!

What is raclette cheese?
A mellow cow’s milk cheese with flavours and aromas of butter and nuts, raclette has a firm-yet-supple texture that melts beautifully when heated. The word raclette (from the French racler, or “to scrape”) goes back to the days when Swiss cow herders used to melt raclette cheese on rocks close to glowing coals to scrape over food. Raclette cheese is worth seeking out at specialty food stores, but other melting cheeses also make for a good party.

Raclette menu and recipes for 8:

Greens with Tarragon Vinaigrette: Well-dressed salad is a light and refreshing opening course for a rich raclette main.

Grilled Shrimp Skewers with Vegetable Skewers: The cook-your-own party starts by choosing and grilling skewered shrimp and vegetables to serve with Lemon Chive Aioili (below).

Lemon Chive Aïol: While prefect for grilled skewers, this multipurpose dip is also delicious with crunchy fresh veggie sticks.

Raclette: Classic meets modern in this selection of ingredients you can prepare ahead, leaving plenty of time to enjoy the first course with guests.

Pineapple with Kirsch Syrup: A delicious twist on the Swiss tradition of serving pineapple and kirsch at the end of a meal to aid digestion.

Ginger Molasses Tuiles: Bake only six of these lacy tile-shaped cookies (tuiles in France) at a time.

Raclette dinner party work schedule
2 days ahead:
• Make Tarragon Vinaigrette recipe.
• Make Lemon Chive Aïoli recipe.
• Make batter for Ginger Molasses Tuiles recipe.
• Make Kirsch Syrup recipe for dessert

Day before:
• Slice cheese and sausages for raclette recipe.
• Cook broccoli and potatoes for raclette recipe.
• Cut pineapple for dessert.

Day of:
• Bake Ginger Molasses Tuiles recipe.
• Assemble Shrimp and Vegetables Skewers recipe.
• Put pickles, broccoli and baby corn into bowls.
• Prepare salad greens.

At dinnertime:
• Heat raclette grill in centre of table.
• Place skewers, aïoli and salad on table.
• Reheat potatoes while enjoying first course.
• Set out all raclette ingredients.
• For a light dessert, toss pineapple with kirsch syrup.

raclette grill

Raclette – Tips, Recipes, Serving

Pronounced [rah-KLEHT] – The tern raclette refers both to the famous cheese from Switzerland as well as the dish. The word raclette is derived from the French word racler which means to scrape.

History

This warm cheese dish originated in the Valais canton of Switzerland where farmers and herdsman would make a meal of cheese melted by campfire or hearth, potatoes and pickles. Historians conjecture that at some point the cheese got too close to the fire and the melted cheese dish was born. The cheese and the dish have been documented back as far as the year 1291 and at that time was called Bratchäs.

There has been much evolution of the dish since those early days. Today besides the requisite potatoes and pickles any number of foods are eaten with the cheese including fish, poultry, vegetables and sometimes even wild game.

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The dance is a poem of which each movement is a word. Mata Hari

Did you know?

In 1752, September 3rd -13th did not happen. These 11 days were skipped as Georgia and the other British colonies converted from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar.