Raclette at home is fun!

We got a Raclette machine from someone who was moving from Germany back to the US, but didn’t take the time to research how it works. I’m going to have LOTS of Raclette this year, after enjoying a wonderful dinner with German friends at their home!

It was really fun- for those of you who are familiar with fondue, instead of a big pot of melted cheese, everyone gets their own mini frying pan, and you decide what you want to put in it.

My friend had about 10 bowls of stuff to choose from, plus 4 different kinds of cheese. You put your meats or veggies in the pan and then a slice of cheese- she had only European cheeses that were really good :).

Then your mini frying pan goes into the machine, which is basically a plugged in broiler, and the cheese melts onto the other stuff in your mini pan.

One German accompaniment is boiled potatoes. You cut up a potato on your plate and then you slide the cooked meat/ veggies/ melted cheese from your mini frying pan onto the cooked hot potato. They also had a nice salad to add a cool and healthy taste.

The top of the Raclette machine was a grill, so we grilled some onions and mushrooms, but the other veggies were raw. I would probably sautee some of my vegetables in advance, such as peppers, but the hot dog/cured sausage pieces and sliced ham were fine cold (to start). Everything was ooey-gooey-hot after coming out of the raclette!

Some people enjoy cheese and fruit, so you can also melt some over sliced pears, apples, etc. We didn’t melt any chocolate over the fruit slices, but that could be a yummy option as well!

When I get back to the US, I’m going to look for a Raclette machine. In addition to tasting delicious, the dinner table felt like even more of a community as we built our individual meals together. You are waiting a few minutes for your cheese to melt, so there is more built-in conversation time.