Les Deux Alpes and Our First Raclette Dinner

Friday, May 29, 2020

 

After Christmas, in the winter of 1985, we traveled to Les Deux Alpes with friends for a week of skiing.  We were living in Germany at the time so a drive to the Swiss Alps and on to the French resort, Les Deux Alpes, was a no-brainer. Skiing was still our passion.

Les Deux Alpes is the second oldest ski resort (behind Chamonix) with the largest skiable glacier in Europe.  This was a fabulous trip:   great skiing, good friends and wonderful food and wine.

But this post is not about France or skiing.  It’s all about the food!

This is where we first experienced a Raclette Dinner!!!

Raclette was originally a dish of boiled and pickled vegetables and bread.  It originated in the Swiss Alps hundreds of years ago (first noted in 1291) as a portable and easy dish for cowherds and farmers to enjoy, either for lunch or dinner, in the field over a fire.  Raclette, a rich semi-soft cow’s milk cheese known for its melt-ability, is a specialty of the Alpine region.

We totally enjoyed this meal.  So, you can imagine our great delight to discover how easy it is to produce a Raclette Dinner not only for two but for a crowd!  Modern ingenuity has created an electric Raclette Grill for tabletop use.  This handy-dandy machine makes it possible to feed a crowd with ease, laughter, and a great deal of camaraderie!!!  Or, on a busy weeknight, wind-down with a simple dinner for 2 while enjoying good conversation and wine.

When friends ordered a 13 lb. wheel of Raclette cheese and shared a hunk with us, we pulled out that raclette grill.  While enjoying the wonderful meal, we reminisced about the days of our youth and relived some of our early foreign travel experiences.  What a pleasant evening!!!

And, along with the fun of the meal, a new-to-us wine was researched, purchased, consumed, and enjoyed.  Switzerland is not known for its wine.  But that may be because they consume almost all the wine they produce!  Very little is exported.  Ah, but, Switzerland is known for the Chasselas grape.  The wine created from this grape (sometimes called Fendant) is full bodied, dry and fruity.

Here are more photos:

If you, too, are spending more time in the kitchen these days then give Raclette a try.

It’s a fun meal!!!