French Recipe: Tarte Flambée

Tarte flambée, or flàmmeküeche in the Alsatian dialect, is a speciality of the region of Alsace. The dish is quite like a strange version of pizza, and consists of a thin bread base, covered in crème fraîche, pieces of smokey bacon and onion.

Tarte flambée was first eaten in Alsace hundreds of years ago, when people would bake their own bread once every two or three weeks. This tasty snack would be enjoyed as a celebration of the production of the next batch of bread. All of the dough left over from the preparation of the loaves would be gathered up, rolled out and covered in cheese. This flatbread dish would then be cooked as soon as the oven had been heated, as for a while it would be too hot for normal bread.

Today, like in the past, it is normally eaten by hand, and enjoyed with Alsatian beer or a white wine. As well as being hearty and filling, it is an easy dish to make, so if you fancy a change from classic Italian pizzas, why not give France’s equivalent a go?

  • Preparation Time: 15 minutes
  • Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

  • Pizza dough (enough to stretch out into a base of about 10 inches)
  • 1 onion
  • 100 g of smoked bacon
  • 30 cl of thick crème fraîche

Method

Step 1: Preheat the oven to a high heat (280°C if possible)

Step 2: Grease and sprinkle flour over a large flan dish. Then stretch the dough across it so that it begins to resemble a pizza base.

Step 3: Pierce the dough all over with a fork and then spread the crème fraîche across it evenly.

Step 4: Cut the bacon into small rectangular pieces. Chop the onion into fine pieces.

Step 5: Spread the pieces of bacon and onion over the crème fraîche. Add salt and pepper before placing the tart in the oven.

Step 6: Cook for 15 – 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

pizza dough