Gratin dauphinois
“Good things come in rough brown - or red, pink or purple - packages.”
- 1 onion, sliced finely
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 4 desiree or other firm, waxy-style potatoes
- 1 clove garlic,finely sliced
- sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 tsp plain flour
- 1 cup cream
- 1 cup milk
This standard preparation is always popular.You could omit the onion, or substitute stock for half of the milk, or add grated cheese to the mix. If using cheese I prefer a variety that melts easily such as raclette, Tilsit or gruyere.The recipe can be doubled. My baking dish yields a gratin of about 8cm in depth. If your dish is much deeper and you have doubled the quantities it may be considerably longer before the potatoes are tender. The gratin will hold its heat for some time after being taken out of the oven.
Method
Preheat oven to 180C.
Saute onion in oil until limp and deep-gold. Meanwhile peel the potatoes and slice thinly. Mix sliced potato, onion, and garlic in a bowl and season with salt and pepper.
Use half the butter to grease a shallow gratin dish and tip in the potato mixture. Press down to create a firmly packed and even layer, or the more fastidious can carefully place the potatoes in overlapping circles. Mix flour with cream and milk and slowly pour over the potatoes. Dot with the rest of the butter and bake for about an hour.
The potatoes should be very tender when tested with the point of a sharp knife.
Serves 4.
This recipes is featured in the book, Autumn which is available now in all
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