2.26.2013

Potato, Leek and Celeriac Gratin




Ah, gratin. You demon of the side dish world. So full of cream and butter. So unapologetically decadent. So tantalizingly indulgent. We can't resist you. We call you "vegetables" but deep inside we know the ugly truth. We'd likely be better off eating a Big Mac. Still, there you are on our table, beside a rotisseried chicken. Welcome back. Be sure to visit again soon. 

PS You look very nice in your beautiful baking dish! (Thanks, K!)










Potato, Leek and Celeriac Gratin

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 large branch fresh rosemary
2-3 garlic cloves, peeled
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 leek, halved lengthwise, then thinly sliced
2 medium potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 celeriac (celery root), peeled and thinly sliced
4 ounces grated Gruyere cheese
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons herbs de Provence

Preheat oven to 350. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, heat the cream, rosemary and garlic bubbles start to form along the sides of the pan. Turn off heat and set aside. Melt butter in a small skillet and sweat the leeks, seasoned with a pinch of kosher salt, taking care not to brown them (about 5-6 minutes); set aside. Spray a baking dish with cooking spray. Layer 1/3 of the potato slices, 1/3 of the celeriac slices, 1/3 of the cooked leeks and 1/3 of the gruyere. Season with salt and pepper and continue the process a second and third time. Strain the cream through a fine mesh sieve and pour it into the dish over the vegetables. Sprinkle top with herbs de Provence. Cover dish tightly with foil and bake at 350 for 45 minutes, until bubbly. Remove foil and continue to bake another 15 minutes, until top is golden brown. 



4 comments:

jck said...

Wow. So much yumminess in one side dish!

Bet that would be great alongside a steak, too.

Jenny said...

The number one thing we think about... food.... What we don't think about is how will we eat during a disaster situation?
There is nothing like chowing down on some comfort food, while cleaning up after a disaster. Check out our Kickstarter campaign for "Cooking with Fire, The Disaster Cookbook! We need your help to make it a reality. Lots of real world advice and recipes for cooking when the power goes out and we have some really swell pledge rewards!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/479638117/cooking-with-fire-the-disaster-cookbook

Thanks and keep those cook fires stoked!

Kampot pepper said...

''freshly ground black pepper'' is important because we can keep just 3 months ground pepper after the fragrance begin to disapear.

Anonymous said...

What a creamy looking dish!