Potato gratin is one of those dishes I always thought was just a little too fiddly for me to bother with too often. It always took forever to get through slicing all the potatoes and I could never quite cut them thinly enough… That was until I discovered the joys of our mandolin. We have a large industrial sized mandolin, but a kitchen slicer works just as well. This super handy piece of kitchen equipment means preparing a scrumptious gratin with all those lovely creamy layers of finely sliced potato takes mere minutes so this dish has now cemented its place on our mid-week menu.
Traditionally a gratin uses a lot of cream, so to make us feel a little less guilty about eating it so often, I use half cream and half chicken stock. This has the added benefit of making the dish not quite so heavy, meaning it goes just as well with a summer steak as it does as part of a hearty winter meal.
I like to use the red skinned potatoes because the skin is nice and thin so I don’t need to peel them first. Any potato will do really, though I tend to steer clear of the more floury varieties like Agria because they can make the end result a bit stodgy.
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Cook time:
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Serves: 4
- 1kg potatoes
- 1 cup cream
- 1 cup liquid chicken or vegetable stock
- 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, finely chopped
- ½ cup grated cheese (optional)
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Preheat your oven to 190C (160C fan bake). Grease a 20cm x 20cm baking dish. I find this is just the right size for this quantity of potato and the result is a nice high gratin with lots of layers. If your dish is too big you won't achieve enough layers and the liquid will evaporate before your potatoes are cooked through.
- Slice the potatoes as thinly as possible - the thinner the better. Start to build your gratin by spreading a layer of potato in to the dish. Sprinkle with a little garlic, rosemary and salt and pepper. I'm not sure if this makes any difference but I also like to spoon a tablespoon of the cream over each layer. Continue building up your gratin in layers until you have used all the potato.
- Combine the remaining cream with the chicken stock and gently pour over the potatoes. The liquid should come about ⅔ of the way up the sides of your dish. Sprinkle over the grated cheese if using and cover with foil.
- Bake for 60 minutes and then remove the foil and continue to bake until the potatoes are cooked through, about another 20 minutes. You can check if its cooked by inserting a sharp knife or skewer into the centre of the potato - it should feel soft.
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