Raclette was originally a poor shepherd's dish made with peasant cheeses. This is a rather sophisticated version made with probably the best known soft French cheese.

For a dinner party of 8 -

• 500 gm Camembert cheese
• 2 eggs
• tablespoon butter
• 10-15 tablespoons breadcrumbs

And to accompany -

• a jar of cranberry sauce
• crispy assorted salad leaves
• 4 crusty baguettes

Beat the eggs. Melt the butter and stir into the eggs along with the breadcrumbs to form a dry mixture. Put the mixture into a serving bowl.

Cut the cheese into slices approximately 1cm thick and place on a serving dish.

Wash and dry the salad leaves and place in serving bowl. Serve the cranberry sauce in one or several individual serving bowls.

Get your guests to place a few salad leaves and a slice of camembert lightly dusted with some breadcrumb mixture in their individual raclette dishes. These should be put under the Raclette grill until they just turning crispy. Meanwhile warm or toast as preferred slices of bread on the hot top of your Raclette. Serve the warm cheese and salad with a slice of warm bread topped with a spoonful of cranberry.

Variants - try Brie instead of Camembert for a more crumbly texture. Not worred about being sophisticated? then try Branston or another brown pickle instead of cranberry - Branston really goes with Brie we think!!

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