Approx cost: €3.50
Approx calories (per 100g): ~160
Approx preparation time and cooking time: 2.5 hours
Not really the most healthy of dishes with all the butter, cream and cheese but this is a really hearty, delicious dish, perfect for cold winters, served either on its own or as an accompaniment to meats. The cream, cheese and garlic all bake together in the oven to make a delicious gooey mess which is just awesome!
Ingredients
– 4 or 5 good sized potatoes
– 1 onion
– 10 cloves of garlic
– 200g tasty cheese, like Cheddar
– 4 decilitres of single cream
– 50g butter
– Salt
– Pepper
– 2 tsps Nutmeg
Instructions
- Start by peeling the potatoes and slicing them as finely as you can. If you can, use a mandoline – you’ll be able to chop a whole load of potatoes to uniform, wafer-thin slices in minutes. If you have no such tool, I’d recommend pre-boiling the potatoes for 5 minutes first and then slice them. Layer half of them into a deep roasting dish.
- Slice the onion, layer half of it on top of the potatoes, cut half of the butter into small chunks and dot around on top of the onion. Sprinkle 1 tsp of nutmeg, some salt and pepper on top, and then mince the garlic and dot half of it around. Do exactly the same over again to create a new layer on top.
- Grate the cheese and pour the cream over the gratin. You should be able to just see the level of the cream when you tilt the pan gently. If not then you may want to add a dash of milk or so – be careful not to add too much!
- Put the gratin in the oven at about 100 degrees Celsius for about an hour. If you have cut the potato by a knife instead of a mandolin then you probably want to leave it in the oven for around 1.5 hours. Since hand-cut potatoes will probably be thicker it will take longer to cook. After this time, turn the oven up to about 160 degrees Celsius and cook for another 30 minutes, or until the cheese is nicely browned and then remove from the oven. Cut into portions and serve. It goes really well with meat, or, as shown in the picture below, I love it on a bed of sliced beetroot with a green salad on top.
Joanna Swan says
I cannot believe this costs under 5 euros. Oh boy, if I had an oven…
Perhaps I could adapt this to stovetop in fact! Thanks for the great recipe.
Joanna @ Stoveless
Charles says
Hi Joanna, thanks for stopping by! Really, the cheese and the cream are the only things of high value in the dish – potatoes can be picked up for next to nothing usually. It's a really hearty dish – I think you absolutely could adapt it for use without an oven. If you boil the potatoes first and layer them up with the cream and cheese and then cook long and slow in a deep pan, uncovered. You might need to add extra water to the cream else it might cook dry. The only problem I can foresee is perhaps not being able to get the browned cheese on top which really makes the dish I think – perhaps if you have a small burner, like the type used for crême-brulée you could use that? Let me know if you give it a shot, I'd be really interested to see how it turned out for you!
Greg says
Ohhhhhhh….. that looks seriously great!
Charles says
I'd definitely recommend a mandoline if you make this – the number of times in the past where I hand cut the potatoes and then they're still "crispy", even after 1.5 hours of cooking in the oven. Plus when they're this thinly cut the slices of the gratin hold together much more easily!