Scalloped Potatoes- Easy and Delicious

I love scalloped potatoes. If they didn't take so long to make I would make them more often. Unfortunately most scalloped potatoes recipes just take too long to warrant making them during the week. That was until I found this recipe. On the weekend I was perusing food blogs and recipe websites and I came across this recipe. They were ready in half the time that it usually takes to make most scalloped potato recipes and they were simply delicious! This is definitely my new go to scalloped potatoes recipe.

Scalloped Potatoes
Original recipe by Cook's Illustrated
Slightly modified

2 Tbsp butter
1 medium onion, minced
2 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves, minced (If you don't have fresh I'd advise leaving this out all together. Dried thyme doesn't yield a great flavor)
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 1/2 lbs (about 5 med) russet potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/8" thick
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 half and half
2 bay leaves
4 oz cheddar cheese, shredded

1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 425 degrees.

2. Melt the butter in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. When the foaming subsides, add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the potatoes, broth, cream, and bay leaves and bring to a simmer. Cover, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer until the potatoes are almost tender (a paring knife can be slipped into and out of a potato slice with some resistance), about 10 minutes. Discard the bay leaves.

3. Transfer the mixture to an 8-inch square baking dish (or other 1 1/2 quart gratin dish). Sprinkle evenly with the cheese. Bake until the cream is bubbling around the edges and the top is golden brown, about 15 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before serving.

Nats Scalloped, Creamed, Cheesy or Whatever You Want to Call Them Potatoes

Last week I was craving some scalloped potatoes or creamed potatoes as my mother calls them. Growing up my mum made her own version and we would have them fairly regularly. I always liked them. I'm not really home enough though to spend this long on a side dish so I don't make these as much as I would like to. In fact this was the first time I had made them since I moved to the US. I didn't have a recipe of my own and so looked at a few different ones and then came up with this one using ingredients I had in my pantry and fridge. I was really pleased with these and have been wanting them again ever since.

Nats Scalloped Potatoes
Serves 4 people


Ingredients
1 teaspoon of minced garlic
Italian seasoning- As much or as little as you like
4 tbls spoons of unsalted butter- divided
1/4 cup of buttermilk
Approx 3/4 cup to 1 cup of cream
Salt and pepper
Approx 1 cup of of grated cheddar cheese
Approx 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese
4 large potatoes - I used Yukon Gold because that is what I had on hand.

Method

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Melt two tablespoons of butter. Add to the melted butter the minced garlic. Using a pastry brush spread butter and garlic mixture over the bottom and sides of a cornware or glass baking dish. Set it aside to dry.

Peel and slice potatoes into relatively thin slices. (Due to time constraints- I then boiled my potatoes until they were just shy of tender).

In a separate bowl combine buttermilk, cream, salt and pepper, and seasoning.

Cut the remaining two tablespoons of butter into small pieces.