First of all, I would like to wish you all a happy new year. I hope you and your families had a good start to what I hope will be a successful 2023!
My family and I had a good start to the new year. We celebrated New Year's Eve quietly, but for a change, we replaced the traditional fondue chinoise with raclette.
Available in advance as a video…
Although my husband is Swiss and we therefore spend a fair amount of time in Switzerland, I've realized that I've only ever eaten raclette once in my life, several years ago at a restaurant on Mount Rigi . In all the years since, it never occurred to me to make raclette myself, even though I'm usually quite adventurous in the kitchen. It's almost a shame, isn't it? So this year, I decided to try something different for New Year's Eve: raclette , which is always a popular choice for social gatherings.
Since I had never dealt with this topic before, I first asked my husband how raclette is usually eaten. After that, I started gathering more ideas online. On Pinterest , I actually came across some great pictures and articles that helped me a lot with planning my New Year's Eve raclette. This allowed me to learn a lot about this dish and form my own opinion about it.
Incidentally, this year they also had my popular appetizer of plantain tapenade and avocado. Admittedly, it was a bit smaller than in previous years, but it was on offer.
Classic raclette ingredients
My husband bought the ingredients for classic raclette . Besides the various obligatory raclette cheeses, the following side dishes are essential: potatoes, pickled onions, gherkins, pepper… “Is that all?” I thought to myself. “That sounds too simple and too ordinary to me!”
My raclette ingredients:
During the preparations, I came up with a few more ways to give the dish a Cameroonian or West African touch. Chez Fadi wouldn't be Chez Fadi if it wasn't reinterpreted, would it? Or am I wrong? The list of ingredients was gradually expanded. To the classic ingredients, I added some Bobolo cheese , plantains, avocado, pomegranate, and spring onions.
And to keep the grill busy, fresh mushrooms, bell peppers, and broccoli added vibrant colors to the table, while a little salmon and shrimp rounded out the dish. As far as I was concerned, our raclette evening could now begin!
It was a complete success. The guests (in this case, just my family) were thrilled, and I was proud that this premiere went so well. Why not try it yourself and let your imagination run wild?.
