Raclette

After the success of the melting pot we decided to invite our friends over for the other great Swiss invention- the Raclette . For people who are not familiar the Raclette is a cooking device you place in the center of the table, there is a hot plate on top to grill, and then little dishes which fit under a heating element below. Like the fondue the key to the raclette is cheese, and lots of it! At its most basic Raclette consists of boiled potatoes, which you then smother in raclette cheese that you have cooked under the grill. When you get a little more adventurous there is no limit to what you can cook on the raclette- in the past we have had stuffed zucchini flowers, mini pancakes, turkey and gongonzola bakes- the list goes on.
Last night we settled on a mainly seafood and vegetable grill. Heading out to wholefoods we picked up a couple of different shrimp, 5 different cheese a huge assortment of vegetables and some turkey chorizo sausage. We then marinated the meats and fish, boiled some purple potatoes ,prepared some of the vegetables ( mushrooms stuffed with pesto and feta) and left the rest to our guests.
There was such a great selection of cheese (Halloumi, Raclette, feta, stilton and boursin) that it was easy to create a wide variety of treats. The nice thing about the racelette is that much like a fondue dinner, it is slow. for each little dish you prepare several minutes must go by before it is ready to eat. It is also very interactive and fun, and allows each person to eat their own favorite foods, missing out any ingredients they are not so keen on. Definitely one of our best wedding presents!