We had left over Salmon and we decided to make a Cheesy Hasselback Potato Gratin from a recipe in The New York Times. In most gratins the potatoes are horizontal an covered with cheese and cream. In this recipe they thin slices are stacked vertically so that approximately half of the potato is directly exposed to the heat of the oven. The exposed part becomes crispy like potato chips while the submerged part is rich with cream and cheese. This is a very rich and good recipe. It is made much easier if you have a food processor with a slicing blade that can quickly cut uniform potato slices. The salmon was delicious, we served it at room temperature over a salad.
Cheesy Hasselback
Potato Gratin
New York Times
This golden and glorious mash-up of potato gratin and
Hasselback potatoes, from the acclaimed food science writer J. Kenji López-Alt,
has been engineered to give you both creamy potato and singed edge in each
bite. The principal innovation here is placing the sliced potatoes in the
casserole dish vertically, on their edges, rather than laying them flat as in a
standard gratin, in order to get those crisp ridges on top. Allow extra time
for the task of slicing the potatoes, for which it's helpful to have a
mandoline (though not necessary, strictly speaking). And do buy extra potatoes,
just in case; you want to pack the potatoes tightly and keep them standing up
straight.
Ingredients
3 ounces finely
grated Gruyère or comté cheese
2 ounces finely
grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
2 cups heavy
cream
2 medium cloves
garlic, minced
1 tablespoon
fresh thyme leaves, roughly chopped
Kosher salt and black pepper
4 to 4 ½ pounds russet potatoes, peeled and sliced
1/8-inch thick on a mandoline slicer (7 to 8 medium, see note)
2 tablespoons
unsalted butter
Preparation
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400
degrees. Combine cheeses in a large bowl. Transfer 1/3 of cheese mixture to a
separate bowl and set aside. Add cream, garlic and thyme to cheese mixture.
Season generously with salt and pepper. Add potato slices and toss with your
hands until every slice is coated with cream mixture, making sure to separate
any slices that are sticking together to get the cream mixture in between them.
Grease a 2-quart casserole dish with butter. Pick up a
handful of potatoes, organizing them into a neat stack, and lay them in the
casserole dish with their edges aligned vertically. Continue placing potatoes
in the dish, working around the perimeter and into the center until all the
potatoes have been added. The potatoes should be very tightly packed. If
necessary, slice an additional potato, coat with cream mixture, and add to
casserole. Pour the excess cream/cheese mixture evenly over the potatoes until
the mixture comes halfway up the sides of the casserole. You may not need all
the excess liquid.
Cover dish tightly with foil and transfer to the oven. Bake
for 30 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking until the top is pale golden
brown, about 30 minutes longer. Carefully remove from oven, sprinkle with
remaining cheese, and return to oven. Bake until deep golden brown and crisp on
top, about 30 minutes longer. Remove from oven, let rest for a few minutes, and
serve.
Tip
Because of variation in the shape of potatoes, the amount of
potato that will fit into a single casserole dish varies. Longer, thinner
potatoes will fill a dish more than shorter, rounder potatoes. When purchasing
potatoes, buy a few extra in order to fill the dish if necessary. Depending on
exact shape and size of potatoes and casserole dish, you may not need all of
the cream mixture.
