Potato Gratin
Potato gratin or gratin dauphinois is a French potatoes recipe made with milk or cream. It originates from the Dauphine region of France.
It has many names in French such as pommes de terre dauphinoise, potatoes à la dauphinoise and gratin de pommes à la dauphinois.
Or in plain English – potato gratin (Dauphinois) or scalloped potatoes :).
There are many varying recipes around to make this dish, some with or without cheese, onions and egg.
All of them use raw thinly sliced potatoes as the main ingredient.
My recipe is fairly simple and does not use cream but I do use some crème fraiche, cheese and an onion to add some extra flavour.
And of course, I use a good old English cheddar in the recipe.
Be aware that because of the cooking time to cook the potatoes from raw, it does take a while to cook this dish.
The advantage is you can prepare it long before cooking and just pop it in the oven so it is ready when you need it.
I think this is a great side dish for serving up with a schnitzel or even some fried chicken.
We would often have this dish in the old days as part of our celebrations on so called ‘Boxing day’. Boxing day is the day after Christmas Day, or St. Stephens day.
After Christmas traditionally some of the ham would still be available and would get used for all sorts of delicious meals.
We would eat this potato gratin (dauphinois) with some cold leftover ham which is a really perfect combination.
Make sure you do not cut the potato too thick or it will take longer to cook than you expect. You should cut them as thinly as you can without the risk of damaging them.
How to make French Gratin
Gratin Dauphinois
This delicious scalloped potato side dish is a perfect accompaniment to many meat dishes and tastes quite fantastic.
Ingredients
- 4 potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 20g butter
- 350ml milk
- 2 tbsp plain flour
- 140g extra mature white cheddar, grated
- Pinch of nutmeg
- 30g crème fraiche
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 180C.
- Butter your baking dish. These quantities filled a dish about 20cm x 12cm.
- Start stacking your gratin by putting a layer of potatoes on the bottom. Then add a layer of onions, and again some potatoes. You should have enough for about 4 layers of potatoes.
- Then make the sauce. Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the flour. Then whisk in the milk and simmer until the sauce starts to thicken.
- Then add in the crème fraiche, the cheese (leaving some to top the dish), and the nutmeg, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Add the sauce to the dish. It should pretty much cover the potatoes. Do not worry too much if it doesn’t quite cover, as the potatoes will relax as they cook.
- Then sprinkle some grated cheese over the top to finish.
- Put in the oven covered with a tin foil covering for an hour.
- Remove covering and cook for a further 30 minutes. Prick with a sharp knife to determine if the potatoes are fully cooked.
Notes
As a side dish with whatever you want.
Let me know how you get on in the comments section below.