Those of us who've tramped the Chemin du Puy, especially in sleet and snow, will have fond memories of aligot. It's the cheesy mashed potato of the Aubrac, prepared differently from town to town, but always involving garlic, spuds and cheese.
Recipes usually call for a bit of skill and fuss, so I tend to leave aligot to the Auvergnats. Anyway, floods and other problems here on the mid-coast of NSW have made my pantry is a little bare of late. Today I found myself reduced to some Colby cheese, garlic and instant mash, so I decided to try a lazy person's aligot. I swear, this works!
Make some chopped garlic honey-brown in olive oil or butter or whatever. Then lay some fine slices of any melty but well-flavoured cheese over the garlic and turn the heat right down. When the cheese has all but melted, add your mash, which has been prepared a minute before by the complex method of pouring boiling water on instant mashed potato one minute beforehand. Turn the heat off, add salt and pepper and beat hard till cheese is incorporated into spud. And eat. Memories of the Aubrac in snow flood the brain.
You could add real mash from fresh spuds, but that would be cheating because it wouldn't be cheating. If you get me.
Recipes usually call for a bit of skill and fuss, so I tend to leave aligot to the Auvergnats. Anyway, floods and other problems here on the mid-coast of NSW have made my pantry is a little bare of late. Today I found myself reduced to some Colby cheese, garlic and instant mash, so I decided to try a lazy person's aligot. I swear, this works!
Make some chopped garlic honey-brown in olive oil or butter or whatever. Then lay some fine slices of any melty but well-flavoured cheese over the garlic and turn the heat right down. When the cheese has all but melted, add your mash, which has been prepared a minute before by the complex method of pouring boiling water on instant mashed potato one minute beforehand. Turn the heat off, add salt and pepper and beat hard till cheese is incorporated into spud. And eat. Memories of the Aubrac in snow flood the brain.
You could add real mash from fresh spuds, but that would be cheating because it wouldn't be cheating. If you get me.