Raclette American Style

Total Time: 40 mins Preparation Time: 40 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 8
• 1 1/2-2 lbs raclette cheese
• 1/2-1 lb yellow sharp cheddar cheese
• 2 lbs small red potatoes (about 6 per person)
• 6 links sweet italian sausage links (or a sausage of your choice)
• 1/3 lb very thinly sliced top quality prosciutto
• 1/3 lb very thinly sliced black forest ham
• 1 lb shaved or very thinly sliced beef steak (optional)
• 2 -3 medium portabella mushrooms
• 2 fresh red peppers, roasted to remove skin or 2 bottled roasted red peppers
• olive oil
• balsamic vinegar
• salt & freshly ground black pepper
• salad greens
• 1 can mandarin orange segments
• 1 cup toasted walnuts (or so)

Recipe

• 1 to do ahead, steps 1 - 5 (about 30 - 45 minutes prep time:
• 2 slice the portobello mushrooms 1/4â€? thick, (or buy already sliced). slice the peppers in long strips. put mushrooms and peppers into a ziploc bag. mix or preferably emulsify together good seasons italian dressing package with balsamic and olive oil. pour into the ziploc, close and gently shake to coat everything. marinate for no more than half a day. arrange on a platter, (we put it on an oval one, red pepper strips in the middle and mushrooms on each end - pretty!), cover and refrigerate.
• 3 brown the sausages on all sides in a skillet. when nice and browned, boil them until just done, still a little pink in the middle. when they are cool enough to handle, slice them about 1/4â€? thick and on a slight diagonal. arrange on a platter with the ham slices, (step 4).
• 4 separate the proscuitto and ham slices. cut them in half and arrange them on a platter - we took each slice and made a sort of rosette out of it so they were easier to pick up and put the sausages in the middle with the hams on either side.
• 5 put shaved beef in a ziploc bag. pour in your marinade of your choice, close the bag and shake to mix well. (we emulsified together some olive oil, bourbon, a garlic clove, about a t. of grey poupon mustard, a splash of balsamic and black pepper.) marinate for an hour to several hours. drain the marinade off the steak; try to separate the slices, make “rosettesâ€? and arrange on a platter by itself since it’s a raw meat; cover and refrigerate.
• 6 an hour before eating, step 6:
• 7 about 20 minutes before eating, steps 7 - 9:
• 8 put your greens in a salad bowl. no more than 20 minutes before eating, toss with your favorite vinaigrette (we made our own with wine vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, pinch of sugar and dried dill), orange sections and walnuts.
• 9 turn on your raclette grill. i taped the grill's electric cord to the table so it wouldn’t be accidentally jerked off if someone tripped over the extension cord. of course, i tripped over the cord - thank god it was taped down!
• 10 dinner's ready!!:
• 11 for those of you who've not done this yet: