A couple of weeks ago we went to visit some friends who have a small ranch up in Sebastopol in Sonoma County where they raise beef cattle. Kathy was hobbling around with a painful hip so I volunteered to cook dinner. Not surprisingly beef was on the menu in the form of a couple of fabulous steaks that I ended up grilling on the barbecue, along with some zucchini from Kathy’s garden.
I decided on scalloped potatoes to go with the steak because, well, I just like scalloped potatoes and I think they go well with grilled meat. And because we were having steak I added some bleu cheese to the spuds because steak and bleu cheese were meant for each other; one of those culinary marriages made in heaven.
Now, many scalloped potato recipes will have you slice the potatoes, place them in a baking dish, cover them with cream or a béchamel sauce and some cheese and bake them forever it seems (but actually about an hour and a half). As often as not some of the potatoes in the center of the dish are still, even after the long cook time, a bit under done.
For my scalloped potatoes I chose to skip the béchamel and pre-cook the sliced potatoes on the stovetop in a milk/cream mixture. I used starchy potatoes so the starch from the spuds would help to thicken the milk/cream mixture. Pre-cooking them cut the oven time in half and guaranteed no raw potatoes in the final dish. The potatoes turned out pretty good, if I say so myself. Alongside the home grown beef and zucchini it was a good meal, made all the better with good wine and great company.
When it came to writing down the recipe for this post I had to make it again, this time taking note of how much I used of what and how long it cooked, etc. (I don’t pay too much attention to these things as I am cooking; it goes by feel and instinct, commonly called experience!). So, I made it again at home a few days later while I could still remember what I had done. I had a few issues with this second attempt…
It’s a curious thing, I put some ingredients together and make something out of them. My wife says so-and-so wants the recipe. Recipe? There is no recipe! So I go back and try to remember what I did the first time so I can write it down. As often as not the second attempt isn’t as successful as the original “on the fly” and I have to fiddle with it to get something close that I can write down.
In this case though it was definitely operator error! I didn’t have any cream in the fridge, only 2% milk. Never mind, I thought, the potato starch will work its magic and thicken the milk. Well, it didn’t! What should have been a thick, creamy, cheesy sauce cloaking tender slices of potato turned out thin and soupy. All the right flavors were there, it just wasn’t creamy. So, back to the drawing board… I fiddled with the proportions and settled on 2 parts cream and one part whole milk for a smooth, creamy sauce.
In this dish I use two cheeses: one a good melting cheese like Gruyere or Emmentaler which adds to the luxurious texture of the sauce, and also some bleu cheese for its distinctive flavor.
When I was researching for this post I found that there are a great number of ways to prepare this dish; some eerily close to this one. The different styles of preparing the dish have different origins: Potatoes Dauphinoise (or ‘Pommes de Terre Dauphinoise’ to give it its full French title) originated in the Dauphine region of South East France. Potatoes Dauphinoise originally consisted of raw potato slices baked with cream, butter and garlic. Later versions included cheese and some, like mine, pre-cook the potatoes either in the cream mixture or separately in water. The dish is called, alternatively, Potatoes au Gratin or Scalloped Potatoes among others, and the names seem to have become somewhat interchangeable. Call it what you will, it is delectably decadent.
Scalloped Potatoes with Bleu Cheese
Equipment
- 2qt (2L) baking or gratin dish
Ingredients
- 2 Tbs 30g unsalted butter – divided
- 2 lb (900g) starchy potatoes – cut in half lengthways and into 1/8" (3mm) slices crosswise
- 1 cup onion – thinly sliced
- 2-4 garlic cloves – minced
- 2 cups (480ml) heavy cream
- 1 cup (240ml) whole milk
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp freshly ground pepper
- 3 1/2 oz (100g) Gruyere cheese – grated, about 1 1/2 cups
- 2-3 oz (60-90g) bleu cheese – crumbled, 3/4 to a cup
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Use half the butter to grease a 2Qt (2L) baking or gratin dish. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil or parchment paper.
- Peel the potatoes and cut them in half lengthways. Cut the potato halves crosswise into 1/8" (3mm) slices. Try and make the slices as even as possible so the potatoes cook evenly. (If you have a mandolin now is the time to dig it out and dust it off.) Add the potatoes, onion, garlic, cream, milk and salt to a medium sized pot. The milk/cream mixture should just barely cover the potatoes. Bring the pot to a boil over medium high fire. Watch that it doesn't boil over. When it begins to boil, lower the heat and boil gently until the potatoes are just barely cooked – no more than 5 minutes. Test with the point of a sharp knife; it should pierce the potato with a slight resistance. Remove the potatoes from the heat.
- With a slotted spoon transfer half the potatoes and onion to the prepared dish. Sprinkle with half the pepper and half of each of the cheeses. Transfer the remaining potatoes and onion to the dish and sprinkle with the remaining pepper and cheeses. Pour the cream mixture over the potatoes to cover. You may not need quite all of the cream. Don't over fill the dish or it will bubble over and make a mess.
- Cover the dish tightly with foil and set it on the lined baking sheet. (This is to catch any drips and make clean up easier.) Bake for 30 minutes. Carefully remove and discard the foil. Dot the potatoes with the remaining Tbs of butter (and additional cheese if desired). Return the dish to the oven and bake, uncovered, an additional 15 minutes until the top is lightly browned and bubbling.
- Let the potatoes cool 15 minutes before serving.
