Fall is most definitely in the air. In fact, for a few days here, winter was in the air. With the change in the seasons I find myself bringing out the “comfort food” recipes. Those dishes that make you feel all warm and cozy. One dish that always shouts comfort to me is scalloped potatoes. A few years ago I stumbled upon what I consider to be the best scalloped potato recipe of all time. It’s simple and easy and absolutely delicious. I’d like to take credit for the recipe but I can’t. This one happens to be courtesy of the famous (infamous) Martha Stewart. I’m not a huge fan of Martha Stewart. In fact I have only tuned into her show once in my life. It was shortly before Easter one year and she was going to decorate eggs. I thought I might learn something useful. But when she went to her backyard and collected her Ostrich egg and then proceeded to guild them in gold I knew this was not the gal for me! Nonetheless she has fabulous recipes and this is one of them. A couple of notes about the recipe. It calls for Yukon Gold potatoes. Now, depending on where you live and the time of year you might not be able to find Yukons. But it is essential that you use a gold fleshed potato for this recipe. There are a couple of reason for that. When this cheesy casserole is baking in your oven your house will smell a little like heaven. Then when you pull it out of the oven you will be greeted with the most mouth watering, golden dish ever. The last thing you want is to dig into this dish of awesomeness and be greeted with a spoon full of white fleshed, anemic looking spuds. And then there is the flavour. This really is a simple dish with few ingredients so the flavour of the potatoes will shine through. Gold flesh potatoes are just more flavourful. If you can’t find full sized gold potatoes pick up a couple of bags of the little golden minis. They are awesome in this dish. No need to peel them either.
Ingredients: 3 pounds of Yukon Gold Potatoes sliced very thin (see notes above) 3 cups of milk 1 cup of heavy cream 1 clove of garlic (you can used minced garlic as well) 3 tablespoons of butter 5 ounces of Gruyere cheese (shredded) Salt and Pepper Directions: Preheat oven to 325. Combine the sliced potatoes and milk in a pot and put on the stove over high heat. Let it come to a boil. Immediately reduce heat to low, cover and let simmer until the potatoes are just slightly tender (about 3-5 minutes). Drain the potatoes, keeping the milk that you cooked them in. Rub a baking dish with butter and garlic. Arrange the potatoes in the dish. Season lightly with salt and pepper and dot with the remaining butter. You should have about 2 cups of thick starchy milk left from cooking the potatoes on the stove. If you don’t top it up to 2 cups with the heavy cream. Pur this over the potatoes. Top with the shredded Gruyere cheese. Bake until the cheese is a golden brown and the milk has reduced and thickened (about 80-90 minutes). If the cheese is becoming to brown near the end of the cooking time cover with foil.
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