Potato Gratin

Look at this. 

It's a potato!

Now look at it close up.

More importantly, it's my potato!

Isn't it the most loveliest, most gorgeous potato you've ever seen?


If you're wondering why I've gone gaga over this particular potato, it's because it came from my garden. To be honest, I can't claim this harvest as my own because it was from a potato plant that the previous owners of my house had left but boy, am I going to get excited about it!

Remember to wash the dirt off. No one likes eating dirt.

The previous owners of our new place were a lovely old couple who were obviously very into gardening and had set us up with the perfect (although quite worn) arrangement of tiered planter boxes, garden planters and a good collection of potato, silverbeet and baby carrots ready to harvest. 

Layer: potato, salt, pepper, cream, garlic, butter. Repeat. Then  cheese. Mmmm.. Cheese..

Now that Jason and I have started work, we've decided to start our own garden of tomatoes, baby chili peppers, spinach and a variety of herbs -if they go well, maybe we'll add some more exciting things!

Golden brown with dark edges

In the meantime, the potatoes are going to good use in a really yummy Potato Gratin recipe (which is a fancy way of saying "Scalloped potatoes" or a less fancy way of saying "Potato Dauphinoise"). 

Giving your meal an extra "oomph"

Seeing as it's BBQ season here in New Zealand (although wouldn't know it with all the lingering rain), be sure you have this easy to make accompaniment to your steak  -it's an absolute classic, which can be dressed up with herbs or be completely basic depending on how you feel. Today, I chose to dress mine up with a sprinkle of fries sprinkle from Masterfoods which gave the dish a great kick!


Potato Gratin

Ingredients:
1kg potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced (about 5mm will do)
4 Tablespoons butter
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 cup cream
Salt and Pepper
1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese, grated
2 Tablespoons of fresh parsley for garnish
Masterfoods Fries Sprinkle (optional)


Method:
1. Slice the potatoes and soak in a bowl of cold water for about 20 minutes to remove some of the starchiness
2. Preheat the oven to 190 C
3. Butter the bottom and sides of your casserole dish -a lasagna dish works fine, too but make sure it's a big!
4. Cover the bottom of the dish with a layer of sliced potatoes
5. Dot knobs of butter, sprinkle with salt and pepper, a few spoonfuls of cream and some garlic -don't worry, there are no wrong measurements here
6. Repeat these layers with the remainder of your ingredients and end with some butter on the top and a generous sprinkle of grated Parmesan and salt and pepper
7. Place in the oven for an hour or until the potatoes have absorbed all the cream and the top is a golden brown with dark edges
8. Sprinkle about 3 teaspoons of fries sprinkle over the top for some extra flavour
9. Serve with the parsley garnish.