This versatile potato and Fontina tart is inspired by the cuisine of Valle d’Aosta – the tiny Italian region tucked into the corner of the Alps where Italy, Switzerland and France meet. Valle d’Aosta sits on the route between my Swiss food and wine tour and Emilia-Romagna tour, so I often stop there for lunch and have come to love its unique mountain cuisine. This tart is delicious as a vegetarian dish – starring the cheese and potatoes – but smoked freshwater fish is another classic Valle d’Aosta ingredient and I often add some hot-smoked trout. Potatoes and smoked fish are such natural partners that any smoked fish, or even eel, makes a delicious addition for a pescatarian version of this tasty tart. Fontina is one of the great northern Italian cheeses; if it’s not available, use any mild washed rind cheese. I’ve even substituted smoked stretched-curd cheese to make a potato and scamorza tart. Use a good all-butter puff pastry, like Carême in Australia (which is already the right dimensions) and a naturally cultured crème fraîche. I like to serve this potato and Fontina tart with a textured Rosé de Provence such as La Chapelle Gordonne from the Vranken Pommery stable.
Serves 2–4
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Valle d’Aosta is Italy’s smallest and least populated region — a high Alpine valley tucked into the north-western corner of Italy where the borders of Italy, France and Switzerland meet.
It sits at the foot of the highest peaks in the Alps, including Mont Blanc, the Matterhorn and Monte Rosa.
The valley’s ancient connection with Switzerland runs through the Great Saint Bernard Pass — at 2,469m (8,100′), one of the highest road passes in the Alps, used since prehistoric times as a route between Martigny in the Swiss canton of Valais and Aosta. At the summit, the Great Saint Bernard Hospice — founded in 1049 and still operating today — once sheltered travellers crossing the pass, and gave its name to the famous rescue dogs bred there.
Today most traffic takes the Great Saint Bernard Tunnel beneath the pass, opened in 1964, though the road over the top remains one of the most dramatic Alpine drives when it’s open in summer.
Fontina is a semi-soft, washed-rind cheese made exclusively in Valle d’Aosta from the raw whole milk of Valdostana cattle.
It has Protected Designation of Origin (DOP) status, meaning only cheese made in the valley to strict traditional methods can carry the name.
Genuine Fontina DOP has a thin, pale orange-brown rind and a supple, mildly nutty interior that melts beautifully.
It is the key ingredient in fonduta, the Valle d’Aosta version of fondue.
Valle d’Aosta has a distinctive mountain cuisine shaped by its Alpine environment and its position at the crossroads of Italian, French and Swiss culinary traditions.
Its most celebrated products are Fontina DOP cheese and Lard d’Arnad DOP — a cured fatback spiced with rosemary, sage and mountain herbs.
Smoked freshwater fish, polenta, chestnuts, wild mushrooms and game also feature prominently, along with the valley’s own red wines made from local varieties such as petit rouge and cornalin.
