Alice Waters’s Potato Gratin
Description
You can bake the dish halfway or three-fourths way — the top will begin to brown, but there will still be a fair amount of liquid in it. In other words, the liquid will not have completely thickened. Remove it from the oven, let it cool completely; then cover in foil. Reheat uncovered at 350ºF until it is done — the top will be browner and the cream mixture will have thickened sufficiently.
Ingreadient :
- softened butter
- 1 clove garlic, smashed
- 3 lbs. red skinned potatoes, peeled (about 2 lbs. 10 oz. peeled)
- kosher salt
- pepper
- 8 to 10 fresh thyme sprigs
- freshly grated nutmeg, optional
- 1.5 cups (or more or less) chicken stock
- 1.5 cups (or more or less) heavy cream
- 1 heaping cup grated Gruyère cheese
- 1/4 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
Direction :
- Preheat oven to 375ºF. Rub an earthenware gratin dish (or 9×13-inch Pyrex) with smashed peeled garlic and butter.
- Using a mandoline or knife, cut potatoes 1/8-inch thick and layer overlapping slices in the prepared pan. Season generously with salt, pepper, and thyme leaves (no need to chop — just pull and scatter). Lightly grate nutmeg over top. Make another layer of potato slices and season again in the same manner.
- Cover the potatoes with the stock and cream — you may need more to allow the liquid to get to the top level of the top layer of potatoes. Sprinkle the top with the grated cheeses. Bake 45 minutes to 1 hour (see notes above if you need to make this ahead of time), checking after 40 minutes or so to make sure the potatoes are not browning too quickly. If they are browning too quickly, cover the pan with foil and continue baking until the potatoes are tender and the top is nicely browned. You can also turn the temperature down to 350ºF if necessary. I find this consistently takes over an hour for the liquid to thicken up and for the top to be evenly browned.
