Cheese and Potatoes...Yum!

 

There's nothing wrong with the combination of cheese and potatoes...unless you are trying to lose weight and you can't keep your portion sizes in check! Ha ha! Easy, right?

 

Gruyere-Crisped Potatoes Au Gratin

Ingredients:

2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes
3 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Generous pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
3/4 cup finely shredded Gruyere cheese
Fresh basil, to garnish

Directions:

Heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Wash and scrub your potatoes. Fix the slicer blade onto your food processor. Feed the potatoes in 1 or 2 at a time until they are all sliced. If you don't have a food processor, just use a very sharp knife to slice them into 1/8 inch slices. (A mandoline works great too.)

In a large pot, add the sliced potatoes, cream, salt, pepper, nutmeg, cayenne pepper, and minced garlic. Set the heat to medium high and cook, stirring occasionally until the cream boils. (Stir gently so that you don't break up the potatoes.)

Pour the mixture into a 2.5 or 3 quart baking dish. Shake it around to settle the potatoes, then sprinkle with the shredded cheese.

Bake in the oven at 400 degrees F. for about 40 minutes, or until they are extremely fork-tender. You will know it is done when the cream is thickened and the top is dark brown. The sauce will continue to thicken as it cools, so don't worry if you think it looks overly-liquidy.

Let the potatoes stand for about 15 minutes before serving with fresh chopped basil.

Recipe Notes: You can replace one cup of the heavy cream with whole milk. If you don't have Gruyere, fresh Parmesan works great too. This is a great make-ahead recipe, so it's perfect for holidays when you are super busy. Just do everything the same except don't add the cheese. When you are ready to bake, sprinkle on the cheese and bake about 15-20 minutes longer than normal, or until the top is dark brown.

Source: The Food Charlatan. You can find it here.

Notes: Comfort food at its finest, folks.