Ingredients

• 30g butter, chopped, at room temperature
• 1kg Dutch cream or kestral potatoes, unpeeled, washed
• 1 tablespoon sea salt
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 300g piece smoked bacon or speck, cut into 3cm lardons
• 6 French shallots, peeled, sliced into thin wedges
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 100ml white wine
• 200ml crème fraîche
• 100ml pouring cream
• 5 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves removed, plus extra, to serve
• 400g L’Artisan The Mountain Man cheese (see notes)

Method

• Step 1 Preheat oven to 200C/180C fan forced. Grease a square 2L (8 cup) ovenproof baking dish with half the butter.
• Step 2 Place the potatoes in a saucepan of cold water and sprinkle over the salt. Bring to the boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer for 12-15 minutes or until the potatoes are just tender, but not quite cooked through. They should give some resistance when a knife is inserted. Drain the potatoes. Set aside to cool. Cut into slices about 5-7mm thick.
• Step 3 Meanwhile, heat a large frying pan over medium heat. Heat the oil and remaining butter until melted. Add the bacon, shallot and garlic and cook, stirring often, for 10-15 minutes or until shallot is caramelised and bacon is crisp. Add the wine to the pan and stir to deglaze, scraping the base of the pan to remove any crispy bits. Simmer for 1-2 minutes or until the wine is reduced by two-thirds. Remove from the heat and add the crème fraîche, cream and thyme leaves. Season. Stir to combine.
• Step 4 Layer half the potato over the base of the prepared dish and spoon over half the shallot mixture. Repeat with the remaining potato and shallot mixture. Cut the cheese into 4 wedges. Arrange the wedges on top of the potato and shallot mixture.
• Step 5 Bake the tartiflette for 25-30 minutes or until the potato is tender and the cheese is melted and gooey. Serve sprinkled with extra thyme sprigs.