Time for French Fridays with Dorie! November FFWD recipes are: Potato Gratin, Caramel Topped Semolina Cake, Pumpkin Gorgonzola Flans, and Roast Chicken for Les Paresseux -- I was so excited that we got to vote for November recipes and 3 out of the 4 that I voted for won! Sadly, Brown-Sugar Squash and Brussels Sprouts en Papillote, my 4th choice, got out voted :( I hope the group will get to that recipe soon, it really sounds delicious and I've never cooked anything 'en papillote' before and that sounds fun.
We got to choose the order we'd like to post the recipes this month, and I went with the Potato Gratin first. I love potato dishes but don't make them too often. I have a special cheddar scalloped potato recipe (which is basically a gratin with a sharp cheddar bechamel based sauce) that always gets requested at Easter and this recipe sounded similar.
I followed the recipe pretty much word for word, using russet potatoes, Emmentaler cheese that I bought at a recent visit to Whole Foods -- my only tiny change was using roasted garlic cloves in my garlic cream. This is a very simple recipe to prepare.
The baking, well, that is a different story. My gratin looked and tested done at the suggested 45 minutes, so I let cool and sliced into what my kids called "potato pie" -- my 4 year old even asked for whipped cream with it and I had to explain this was a savory dish, not a sweet one :) Anyway, the slices looked absolutely perfect, but my gratin was not done! My potatoes were raw and crunchy, not a pleasant surprise. How could this be? I don't know! I think that my gratin tested done since my potato slices were so thin and the tester knife went right through them, but they were way under-done. So...
I popped the remaining back into the oven, without the baking sheet underneath this time. I think mine needed another 30 minutes or so. The taste was phenomenal with such basic ingredients, I really loved the flavor, just be careful to make sure your potatoes are really done! I'm so glad I didn't make this when we had company, whew. I will be making this again, it truly is delicious, and just upping the baking time to 1 hour and 15 minutes or so, probably covering with foil so the top doesn't over brown. Can't wait to see how everyone else did and get cookin' on the other delicious picks for this month :)
10 comments:
This looks fab! Thanks for the tip on the baking time.
This looks wonderful! It seems that fewer chose the gratin to bake first, so it was nice to see your efforts.
Looks wonderful. I made it this week, too, and with any luck will get it posted at some point today or tomorrow. I had my potatoes sliced really thin, so it finished in an hour. I laughed about your choice getting out-voted. Get this: I voted for my 4 favorites and NONE of them made it...all in the bottom four. That should probably tell us all something right there...lol. You did a great job on the potatoes.
I can't wait to make this...yours looks so good! I'll definitely watch the baking time and make sure my taters aren't raw! Don't you hate that when you time everything perfectly...or so you thought! Thanks for sharing your experience.
I wasn't all that excited to do this dish but I'm now rethinking that! Yum!
Trevor Sis. Boom.
This looks so yummy! Can't wait to make it!
That looks SO good! Thanks for the baking tip- I can't wait to try it. :)
I doubled the recipe, but mine took about 75 minutes to cook and then I warmed them in the oven for about 20 minutes right before we ate dinner.
Oh thank you so much for the tips..Im making this today for yes..company..I would be horrifed if I made a underdone potato dish for them! I sure looks good!! I never use a cookie sheet under my baked goods because of what happened to ..it never gets cooked!
You did better than I did! Only one of my picks made it this month (the pumpkin-gorgonzola flans).
I've made this dish already, but won't post it 'til next week. I found that I had to cook it about 20 minutes longer than called for in the recipe.
Thanks for the tip about the roasted garlic. I think I'll try that the next time I make this.
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