All the flavours of Alpine food in a pasta. We've got raclette cheese, tartiflette cheese, potatoes and a hint of spice. Also, double carbs! Ding dong!
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Take a large oven proof cast iron pot and add the bacon lardons on a low heat. Render the fat slowly and gently for around 10 minutes, then remove the crispy lardons and set them aside for later.
Add the butter and heat until gently sizzling and add the onion and celery. Cook for 10 minutes until softened, then add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds until smelling really lovely.
Add the tomato puree and white wine. Turn up the heat and bubble away the wine for around 3 minutes, then add the potatoes along with 500ml of the chicken stock, chilli and parmesan rind.
Cook for around 20 minutes until the potatoes are tender to the touch, then add the pasta along with the thyme leaves, pepper and salt.
Cook until tender. The pasta will let off a lot of starch so keep adding stock to adjust the thickness. You want it to be relatively thick but bear in mind it's going into the oven later. When al dente, stir in the gruyere and raclette chunks, leaving some whole-ish for a cheesy surprise later. Stir through the crispy bacon bits.
Place the large reblochon on top and bake until melted into the pasta, roughly 10 minutes.
