Cheesy Potato Gratin

The classic French dish of 'Potato Gratin' either with or without cheese, is what I call perfect 'Sunday lunch let's have the relatives round' or 'dinner party' food!

It can be made well in advance, everybody seems to like it, and earns you copious brownie points for having 'gone to all that bother' to make something so gorgeous!.....if only they knew the truth!

Potato gratin is a very simple dish to make and once assembled you just leave it alone in the oven to do it's thing. The key to a good gratin is to use a potato that is well suited to this type of dish, one that is dry and 'floury' as the Irish would say. A 'dry' potato will absorb all the creamy cheesy deliciousness and cook down perfectly, so I recommend the King Edward potato or the red skinned Rooster, both are usually available all year round.



Allow 150 g weight of peeled potato per person.
Use nice large potatoes to make slicing them easier.

To feed 6 people you would need roughly 900g of potatoes after peeling, this may seem like an awful lot but the potatoes will cook down and they are so delicious you would not like to disappoint anyone if they ask for seconds!


To make this dish really fast we will partially cook the potatoes....so...

• peel your potatoes but leave them whole, wash them but don't let them soak in water, we want to keep the starch in them and this will help thicken the cream, peel the potatoes just before you cook them
• place the peeled potatoes in a deep pot, cover with cold water, bring to the boil and cook at a slow boil for 15 minutes or until tender but not fully cooked, we don't want the edges to start disintegrating in the pot
• drain and leave to cool, this can be done the day before you need them if you like
• slice each potato about 1cm thick and layer them nicely in a deep baking dish. You can use a round or oval or rectangle dish, as long as it is deep! the creamy cooking liquid will bubble up and you don't want it running over the sides and making a mess in your oven!
• In a large bowl pour in 2 pints of single cream, add a good seasoning of sea salt & fresh black pepper, 2 cloves of finely minced garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of paprika or even a little chilli powder if that's your thing!, 2 heaped tablespoons of finely grated parmesan and whisk it all together
• pour the cream mixture over the top of the sliced potatoes, press the cooked potatoes down into the liquid, cover with cling-film and leave in the fridge for an hour at least or even overnight to let the potatoes absorb the flavors, 
•  Remove from the fridge and give the potatoes another press down into the liquid
• cover with a piece of grease proof paper or parchment cut to the size of your dish
• cover your dish with tin foil and close securely at the edges
• heat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade, place your dish of potatoes on a baking sheet and place in the oven, cook for approx 20 minutes
• remove from the oven and take off the tin foil and greaseproof paper
• if you are putting cheese on top too, now is the time to do it
• return your gratin to the oven and cook until the potatoes and cheese have browned nicely on top.......if you have cheese on top you can always give the dish a last blast under a hot grill to make it crispy which is how I like it......a crisp layer of cheese on top and the softness of creamy potato below

Chef's Notes:

Gratin potatoes go well with any roast meat, a stew or casserole, even fish!

It may seem like there is a lot of cream in the recipe but not only will the potatoes absorb a lot of the liquid during cooking, there will be a certain amount of evaporation too so we don't want it too dry. I like my potatoes to be quite 'saucy', if you would prefer them much drier then you can reduce the amount of cream a little.

A variety of spices and herbs can be used to alter this dish......try a little tikka or harissa paste whisked into the cream or some Tabasco sauce to give a little spice, try adding some chopped fresh rosemary or thyme or even basil, you can add
onions or shallots to the dish too but do slice and cook then until soft before adding them.

I sometimes add cubes of cured smoked ham or lardons of crisply fried pancetta, chorizo sausage or smoked bacon to the dish too, so have a go at introducing new flavors, try a few different varieties of cheese on top, but do stick to the firmer cheeses ....enjoy!