potatoes au gratin

...the parisian way!

Another recipe from my time in Paris!

So not gonna lie, I’ve been trying to perfect my potatoes au gratin recipe for a while because I kept saying something is off with the recipe. I was so excited when the chef said we were going to make ‘Gratin Dauphinois’ aka potatoes au gratin and the way they do it, I’m never going back!

The chef said “In America you only heat up the cream and then layer it on the cold potatoes but in France, we combine it all together then bake it! It cooks quicker & comes out better!”

…and honestly it truly does! Truly, life changing!

Hot saucie tip: What I learned abut French cooking while in Paris or rather cooking in general over time because I’m always learning, is simple but QUALITY ingredients goes very far…and French cuisine is simple food using quality af ingredients.

Hope you guys make it & enjoy it with my steak au poivre!

Ingredients

• 2 pints heavy whipping cream

  • hot saucie tip: I reallllly like Straus Heavy Whipping Cream. It’s good quality & organic. It comes in one pint so just grab two!

• 3-4lb yellow potatoes, skinned & thinly sliced on a mandolin

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter

  • hot saucie tip: I loveeeee Kerry Gold butter. Very good quality butter & more on the expensive side but worth it.

• 4 garlic cloves, grated on a microplane

• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

• kosher salt & fresh cracked black pepper

• 1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

• garnishes: flat leaf parsley, chopped + flakey finishing salt

Tools

• microplane

• mandolin

• oven safe baking dish or cats iron pan

• heavy dutch oven pot or stock pot

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a heavy dutch oven pot on medium heat, add the heavy whipping cream, nutmeg, grated garlic, smoked paprika, butter, salt & pepper to the pan. Let it simmer together for 7 minutes, so flavors can meld together.

3. Add the potatoes to the pot with the cream sauce and gently combine so all the potatoes are combined with the cream sauce.

4. Add everything into an oven safe baking dish and make sure all the potatoes are submerged into the cream so they can cook evenly

5. Place in oven, uncovered for 1 hr - 1 hr & 10 minutes, depending on your stove it may take longer. It will get nice and bubbly & golden brown and potatoes will be tender!

6. When it has about 10-15 minutes left, add the freshly grated parmesan cheese to the top and let it melt & get golden brown.

7. Remove from oven & let it rest for about 10 minutes so the sauce can set a little more so it’s not piping hot!

8. Garnish with parsley & flakey finishing salt + enjoy!