Saturday, December 25, 2010

Potato au Gratin/Scalloped Potato for Christmas

So I was going use Mom's Scalloped Potato Recipe with the Christmas Eve Ham, but when I started to juggle the oven schedule in my head, I realized I need to at least prep it earlier in the day. Unfortunately raw potatoes, like apples, oxidize and turn brown left open to the air. To the interwebs...after much furious googling there were a few options, but many commenters pointed out this is a dish that is often better the next day, and plan came together. I cooked it around lunch time, aiming for slightly under done and then slipped it in to warm with the stuffing. This is an adaption of a Patricia Wells recipe posted in a forum that was the starting point. Crunchy toasty cheese on top was well received.

Gratin Dauphinois

1 garlic clove, halved
2 pds. potatoes, peeled and sliced thin
8 oz. 'Gruyere' cheese grated
2 cups milk
1/2 cup cream

preheat to 375

Rub inside of baking dish with garlic

Combine potatoes, 3/4 of cheese, milk, cream, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Mix well. Spoon into baking dish, , arranging potatoes in layers with cheese in between, then pouring liquid over potatoes. Cover with remaining cheese.

Place in oven and bake about 1 hr. 15 minutes.

What it became was...
2 lb. potato, peeled & sliced thin (Thank you food processor)
2 c. (ish) of sharp cheddar
2 t. chopped garlic
2 c. milk
1/2 c. cream
up to 1 t. dry mustard
1/2 t. white pepper
salt (which I forgot)

Preheat to 375 degrees

In a large bowl, combine the milk, cream, chopped garlic, mustard, pepper, salt, 3/4 of the cheese. Add potato slices to the mixture. Then layer potato slices in a casserole (2.5 l corning works well) I then layer some of the cheese out of the mix and so forth. (I ended up with 3 or 4 layers of potato and about the way I will pour the milk mix up to the top layer) After layering finish pouring the milk in, top with the remaining cheese.

Cook for 1 hr. 15 min.

It is particularly tasty with ham and green beans.