tar·tine
/tɑrˈtin; Fr. tarˈtin/[tahr-teen; Fr. tar-teen]
–noun
1.
a fancy French open-faced sandwich topped with spreadable ingredients.
2.
a piece of bread spread with butter, jam, etc.
When I was little I visited France, the Netherlands, and Belgium a lot for holidays with my family. If we ever stayed in a hotel, breakfasts were invariably comprised of tartine. I didn’t know that word for it back then but it was exactly that: crisp little toasts with butter, jam, marmalade, or chocolate spread on them.
Imagine my delight then, when I came across this idea from Dorie Greenspan: tartine de nutella.
It’s the perfect combination of those tartines we had as children, all fancied up. Crisp slices of baguette; salty, warm butter; tart marmalade with drizzles of rich, warm nutella; and finally crunchy, toasted hazelnuts and coarse, kosher salt. It’s quite honestly a dance party in your mouth.
If you’re not sure that all those flavours will work together, I urge you to just try it, because it’s so very beautiful and delicious and flavours really do work perfectly.
I think Dan said it best when I ran over to let him try a bite: “that’s the business”.
Nutella Tartine
adapted from Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan
Ingredients
- ¼ cup Nutella
- 4 slices French baguette or other country-style loaf
- 1½ tablespoons butter, melted
- ¼ cup orange marmalade (I use Dundee
)
- kosher salt
- Hazelnuts, toasted, (remove loose skins if you like; I left them on) and coarsely chopped, for topping
- Preheat the broiler. Line a baking sheet with aluminium foil.
- Put the nutella in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water and heat, stirring frequently, just until it is softened and warm.
- Brush one side of each slice of bread with melted butter, and put the bread, buttered side up, on the baking sheet. Run the bread under the broiler; pull it out when the slices are golden. Spread the marmalade over the hot bread and then generously drizzle each tartine with some warm nutella. Top with a few grains of kosher salt and some chopped hazelnuts.
