October 3, 2008

Gratin Dauphinois

What: Gratin Dauphinois. A layered potato and cheese gratin, infused with a little bit of garlic and nutmeg and baked until golden and bubbly. A classic French dish.

Why: Exquisite flavor and rich, creamy texture. Simple and honest. Requires only a few ingredients. Because everyone needs to indulge in comfort food like this once and a while.

Equipment: A sharp knife or mandoline*. A ceramic gratin dish. An oven.

How: Gather your ingredients. You may have them in your kitchen already.
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 2 pounds starchy potatoes
  • 1 cup grated Swiss Gruyère (or Emmental if you must - but Gruyère is richer)
  • ½ cup heavy cream (or 1 cup of heavy cream if you don't have crème fraîche)
  • ½ cup crème fraîche (or 1 cup crème fraîche if you don't have heavy cream)
  • pinch of nutmeg
  • fine sea salt
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Rub the bottom of the gratin dish with the garlic clove, then thinly slice it.
Peel the potatoes and thinly slice them with either a knife or a mandoline.
Layer half the potato slices on the bottom of the gratin dish. Scatter the sliced garlic over the potatoes then sprinkle on half the cheese, the crème fraîche (or ½ cup of heavy cream) and some salt.
Repeat with the remaining ingredients and top with a tiny grating of nutmeg.
Bake for an hour. The gratin will be crisp and golden on top, soft and creamy in the middle.


* My inexpensive, plastic mandoline is about 12 years old and still going strong. Pin It

6 comments:

spacedlaw said...

Mmm, with the rain pouring down right now, I really feel like making this dish (although we've had dinner already).

Anonymous said...

I was *so* looking forward to picture to drool over. This is hands down my FAVORITE potato dish. Ever.

Thanks for the recipe.

wcs said...

A classic, indeed, and one of my favorites!

Jennifer said...

spacedlaw
It is definitely comfort food!

my mélange
I wish I had remembered to take one before it disappeared. It is one of my all time favorites too!

wcs
Moi aussi!

Donna said...

Loulou- Give me some ideas for using the rest of the creme fraiche? The last time I made it some went to waste (even though it was sooo yummy!)

Jennifer said...

Donna
I use creme fraiche in place of heavy cream in many dishes. Or you could replace sour cream with creme fraiche too.
Use it to make cakes, swirl it into soups, mix some herbs into it to make a dip for raw veggies, make Creme Fraiche Chicken...
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Creme-Fraiche-Chicken/Detail.aspx