Quick Potato Gratin a la Dauphinoise

[jackal10]

Quick Potato Gratin a la Dauphinoise

This recipe is from The Potato Primer in the eCGI

• 2 lb waxy potatoes (you can use a floury variety, but they will break up more)
  
• 1 large onion peeled and sliced thinly
  
• 2 or more cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
  
• 1 bay leaf
  
• 2 sprigs thyme (or ½ tsp dried thyme)
  
• 1/2 tsp salt, lots of pepper
  
• 1-1/2 pt milk, or cream if you want it very rich.
  
• 2 oz butter
  

Peel and thinly slice the potatoes. Use a mandoline (mind your fingers!), or the slicing disc on a food processor, or good knife skills. If you are unshaven and knit your own you can leave the peel on the potato, but scrub them well. Put everything in a large pan and simmer for 10 minutes.

Remove the bay leaf and the thyme sprig, check the seasoning. Tip into a gratin dish so that it is a layer about 5 cm/2 inches thick. Smooth the top a bit, dot with butter.

Put into a hot oven for 15 minutes or until the top is brown and bubbling, the potatoes soft, and the liquid adsorbed. Let cool a bit before serving

Lots of variations and addition. Dauphinoise with some added protein component, and perhaps a plain salad makes a great bistro dish or a supper when friends drop round unexpectedly. Add one or some of:

• Anchovies (this is called Janzon’s Frestelse (Jansson’s Temptation), after Adolf Jansson, a 19th century Norwegian fisherman turned opera singer)

• Bacon Bits

• Leeks (shredded). This dish was known as Gratin a la Normande.

• Mushrooms, especially morels or shiitake or wild mushrooms, with a little truffle oil.

• Cheese

• Cubes of chicken breast.

• Tofu

• Salmon

• Smoked fish, such as smoked haddock or smoked salmon.

• Sliced salami

• Diced Ham

• Confit of duck (off the bone).

• Savoyarde or Chambery: Like dauphinoise but replace the milk with stock.

• Boulangere: Sliced potatoes cooked round a joint/roast with onions and moistened with the meat juices.

Keywords: Side, Potatoes, eGCI

( RG896 )