Easy Potatoes au Gratin

Scalloped potatoes or potatoes dauphinoise: This is a simply elegant dish. We had these potatoes recently when family visited, and I realized that I’d never written down the recipe. So, here it is for posterity.

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Rich, decadent, simple: a great dish to master for college students. Bonus is that if you have leftovers, you can add them to a frittata or just gnosh on them the next day–if you end up with leftovers, that is. 🙂 BTW, I prefer an equal mixture of half and half and cream for mine.

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Ingredients

3 lbs Yukon Gold or Russet potatoes, scrubbed and sliced to ¼ inch. (Peel if unappealing. . . pun intended). Do NOT rinse the sliced potatoes. (Depending on the size of the potatoes, this could be about 3-4 medium sized potatoes or 2 gigantics.)
4 T butter
2-3 C milk or cream or half and half. Do NOT use 2% or low fat.
Salt and pepper to taste
Grated nutmeg (a sprinkling)
Crushed fresh or dried thyme (a sprinkling)
½ to ¾ C cheese of your choice (suggestions: gruyere, Romano, parmesan, gouda, white cheddar)

20160527_192727 — Potatoes in cream with nutmeg and salt. Ready to pop into the oven.

Directions

Preheat oven to 350
Butter a 1 quart dish with 2 T of the butter (reserve rest)
Layer sliced potatoes into the dish in an artistic manner of your choosing. You can do 2 layers if you want, but feel free to toss extras if you end up with your masterpiece.
Pour milk/cream over mixture to come just to the top, but not to cover the potatoes.
Dot with remaining butter
Salt and pepper lightly
Grate nutmeg and sprinkle with thyme
Put into oven for 30 minutes, checking to see how the browning is going
When it is just starting to color (30-40 minutes into the cooking), sprinkle with the cheese
Continue to cook until it looks tasty. Maybe 10 more minutes. Poke with fork to ensure it is cooked through. If you have to cook longer, that is just fine.
Remove and let cool for 5 minutes before serving