Classic French Potato Gratin by Foodie’s Markets Chef Laura Brennan

    

March 8, 2018

 

I had chores to do after school and thankfully one of them was dinner prep. That was more enjoyable than say…folding clothes.  One of my Irish-German aunts taught me how to make ‘scalloped potatoes’:  sliced potatoes layered in a rectangular glass Pyrex dish with milk, margarine(!), salt and pepper.  No cheese or other flavors as I recall. Usually served with ham.  It was yummy, but the milk always curdled a bit rendering it more utilitarian than beautiful.  (Some recipes add a sprinkle of flour, but we never did.)                      Fast forward fifteen years and I’m enrolled in The Modern Gourmet Cooking School in Newton Center.  And we make a layered potato dish with a beautiful name: “Gratin Dauphinoise”.  The ingredients, in addition to the potatoes; more thinly and evenly sliced, now include a fine parsley-garlic mix (‘persillade’), heavy cream, salt, fresh ground white pepper & nutmeg and often gruyere cheese.  WOW!

 

I’ve continued to make many more potato gratins in my long career.  And in a nod to healthier eating, I don’t use heavy cream any more.  I think half-and-half has enough milk fat to prevent curdling.  It’s still a rich dish, worthy of a special occasion. For Easter, I’m serving this gratin with roast pork, so I’m flavoring the cream (that bathe the potatoes in the oven) with Dijon mustard, fresh thyme sprigs and crushed garlic cloves.  The infused cream will subtly flavor the potatoes and the top will be beautifully browned. It will be a delicious and elegant addition to the Easter buffet. 

 

  • Prep: 40 mins
  • Cook: 45 mins
  • Yields: 6 to 8

Ingredients

3 cups half-and-half cream (plus more as needed)

1 sprig fresh thyme (or a teeny-tiny pinch of dried thyme)

3 medium cloves garlic, peeled and crushed with the blade/handle of a chef’s knife

1 ½ teaspoons Dijon mustard

Fresh ground black pepper

Kosher salt

2 ½ to 3 pounds russet or Idaho (i.e. starchy) potatoes

2 tablespoons softened butter

3 to 4 ounces French gruyere cheese, grated

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.

In a saucepan, combine the half-and-half with 2 crushed garlic cloves, the fresh or dried thyme and Dijon mustard. Whisk to blend. Add a pinch of fresh ground pepper. Heat gently. Do not boil. Turn off heat and let mixture infuse while you prepare the potatoes.

Choose a baking dish with low sides. I used a 12-inch cast iron sauté pan in the picture, but a 12 to 14-inch oval or rectangular baking dish might look nicer on the buffet table. Rub the bottom and sides with the third clove of garlic and then generously butter the same area. Set aside.

Peel and thinly slice the potatoes, 1/8-inch if you can. Use a slicer if you have one. It makes the job easier and the potatoes will be more evenly sliced. (note -the thickness of the sliced potatoes will determine how many layers you make, the amount of cream needed and the length of cooking time.)

Strain the cream mixture. Begin by ‘shingling’ one layer of potatoes in the bottom of the prepared dish. Overlap potatoes slightly. Very lightly sprinkle with salt and fresh ground pepper. Drizzle a couple of tablespoons of ream over the potatoes. Scatter some grated gruyere cheese over the potatoes. Use the cheese sparingly. It’s a potato gratin with cheese...not a cheese gratin with potatoes!!

Continue building layers in the same way. If the potatoes are thinly sliced you may get 4 layers. More thickly sliced potatoes will yield less layers. Season each layer, drizzle with cream and sprinkle with cheese. Finish by ladling cream over the top of the completed gratin. Push down gently with a spatula to let cream settle between all the layers. You may or may not need all the cream…or you may need a bit more!! The cream should just barely cover the potatoes. There should not be so much cream that the potatoes seem to “float’ in the dish. Let the dish sit for 10 minutes before putting it in the oven. This will help to distribute the cream evenly for baking.

Cover the dish with foil. Bake covered for 30 to 35 minutes. Remove cover and return to oven. Continue to bake until top is golden brown and potatoes are soft to the blade of a knife, when inserted.

This could take anywhere from 10 to 25 more minutes. Again, it all depends on the thickness of your layers. Let rest 5 minutes before serving.

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