Yummr

Yummr's Main Dish

Grateful for Potato Au Gratin

I always talk about how much I love potatoes. In fact, I recently told my brother that if I had to choose one food to keep on earth, it would be the potato. He was kind of surprised that I didn’t say rice since that has been a staple food in my diet since forever. I pretty much went into my Bubba voice and went on a rant about all the things you could do with potatoes. You know, instead of, “Shrimp gumbo, shrimp stew, shrimp-kabobs…” I just replaced everything with potato because really, you pretty much can.

So in light of St. Patty’s day coming up, instead of seeing what kind of bars and pubs will be running amuck with festivities, even though Proposition 3-17 from Guinness is pretty amusing, I’ve decided to look into more dishes that really take the potato to a whole new level. As I was reading into some of these ideas, I thought about the recent potato dishes that I had tasted. Potato au gratin is a classic traditional potato dish but is definitely a once in a while indulgence for me. The creamy hearty cheese sauce is so rich if you make it the right way. In my search, I stumbled upon an all au gratin recipe site – wonderful! One that I’d really love to try one day is the Gratin of Potatoes and Porcini Mushrooms:

Ingredients

- 1/2 ounces Dried Porcini Mushrooms, rinsed
- 1/2 cup Hot Water
- 2 medium Shallots
- 2 pounds Baking Potatoes (preferably Idaho), peeled, halved lengthwise
- 1 1/2 tablespoons Olive Oil
- 2/3 cup Whipping Cream
- 2/3 cup Milk
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- Freshly Ground Pepper
- 3 tablespoons Whipping Cream  

Preparation

Soak porcini in hot water 1-1/2 hours. Strain through paper towels; reserve liquid. Rinse porcini; squeeze dry. Discard any hard stems. Cut into strips.

Preheat oven to 325 F. Generously butter 2-quart gratin dish.

Mince shallots. Slice potatoes thinly.

Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add shallots and saute until tender, about 2 minutes. Add porcini and saute 1 minute. Add reserved porcini liquid, 2/3 cup cream, milk, salt and pepper and bring to simmer. Add potatoes, stirring gently to separate slices. Cook until potatoes begin to soften, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning. Transfer to prepared dish.

Spoon remaining 3 tablespoons cream over top of potatoes. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Refrigerate.)

Bake until potatoes are tender, about 1 hour. Preheat broiler. Broil until top is browned, about 3 minutes.

 

That would be a great dish to indulge on for St. Patrick's day and even more so if washed down with a pint of Guinness. Anyone else have St. Patrick's Day celebrations or perhaps sign the proposition? I would love to hear your favorite potato dishes so please share if you have them!

Posted Mar 13, 2008 by SuDoughName | Share It

Filed under: potatoes