Recipe of the week: Baked Langres and pancetta-wrapped potatoes

Recipe taken from Back in the Saddle by Hayden Groves.

The 63 dishes in Back in the Saddle are not from a 27-year career behind the stove, but rather inspired by time ‘back in the saddle', riding the terroir of each and every stage of all three of the Grand Tours in France.

This simple sharing-style dish was inspired by a flattish stage 6 of 216km from Vesoul to Troyes. We rode past the beautiful walled town of Langres, where this cheese is from. This recipe uses three main ingredients and is a play on an extremely popular version made with Vacherin Mont d'Or that I created for Borough Market several Christmases ago.
Hayden Groves, author, former National Chef of the Year and wannabe pro

Serves 4

1 Langres cheese, at room temperature
1 bay leaf
1 sprig rosemary
3tbs dry white wine
400g small new potatoes
200g pancetta, sliced

Place the cheese in a small cast iron or ovenproof dish just slightly bigger than it, press in a bay leaf and a sprig of rosemary, and pour over the wine. Leave the cheese at room temperature for a couple of hours.

Cook the new potatoes in salted water until just tender, drain and allow to cool. When cool, wrap the potatoes in the sliced pancetta.

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Place the cheese on a tray and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Place the pancetta-wrapped new potatoes (join side down) in a non-stick ovenproof tray and bake in the oven at the same time as the cheese, turning the potatoes halfway through cooking. They should be even-coloured and crispy.

Allow the cheese and potatoes to cool for five minutes. Remove the herbs, break a hole in the crusted skin of the cheese and dip the potatoes in. It's absolutely delicious.

Photography by Adrian Franklin