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| Posted: Sun Dec 11th, 2011 07:43 pm |
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1st Post |
boojum
boojum
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This is another better food and gardens dish that Vargr thought was interesting and thought he'd like to try.
Use a 3qt dish, 13" x 9"
Ingredients:
2 lbs of potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
2 cup sliced Cremini Mushrooms
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
2 large galic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper, ground.3 cups milk
4 tsp snipped fresh sage
1 cup crumbled blue cheese (4oz)
1. Preheat oven to 350F and grease baking dish. In a large sauce pan, cook potoatoes in boiling lightly salted water for 5 minutes, drain and put aside.
2. For sauce, in a large saucepan, cook mushrooms, onion, and garlic in hot oil over medium heat until tender. Stir in flour, salt and pepper. Add milk all at once. Cook and stir until thickenned and bubbly. Stir in sage. Remove from heat.
3. Layer half the potatoes in prepaed dish. Pour in half the sauce. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup cheese. Repeat with remaining potatoes and sauce. Cover dish with foil. Cover and chill remaining cheese.
4. Bale for 35 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle top of gratin with remaining cheese. Bake for 35 minutes more or until potatoes are tender and top is golden. Let stand before serving.
Alternates:
Apples smoked chededer gratin. Prepare as directed except omit mushrooms. Cut 2 large cored granny smith apples into thin wedges. Reduce amount of sage in sauce to 2tsp. Place halve the apples over each layer of potatoes. Substitute smoked chedder or Gouda for blue cheese.
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| Posted: Sun Dec 25th, 2011 11:40 pm |
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2nd Post |
Vargr
Vargr
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Just made these for wuffy's Christmas feast, and they were WONDERFUL! YUM!
A couple notes and "adjustments" (you KNOW wuff has to 'tinker' with every recipe *grins*)
First - there is no milk listed in the ingredients! However, you HAVE to use milk to make the white sauce.
- Wuff "eyeballed" it; roughly 2 cups worth of milk, but might need a bit more if your sauce is too thick. You want it thin enough to seep down into the layers of potatoes as it bakes. = A little thicker than Heavy Cream.
Wuff added 2 Tablespoons of butter to the olive oil, to cook the garlic, onions, and mushrooms in.
Salted and peppered the cooking veggies with approx 1/4 tsp each salt/pepper.
Vargr added 1/2 tsp of crushed rosemary with the fresh sage, and about 1/2 teaspoon of granulated garlic powder to the cream sauce after mixing it all togther.
After adding the flour, stir and continue frying for about 3-5 minutes to get rid of that 'raw flour' flavor, before adding the liquid.
Before adding the milk, Vargr added about 1/3 C of Paul Masson Madeira and let that cook, stirring, until mostly boiled away.
Since Vargr only had 1% milk, mixed it with half-and-half in roughly equal ratio to make 2 Cups total liquid.
Tasted the sauce, and adjusted flavors with a bit more salt and pepper, and a touch more granulated garlic to round it out.
Made 3 layers of potatoes in the casserole. Started with a light layer of the sauce to keep the bottom layer of potatoes from sticking to the dish. 3 layers of potatoes meant 2 layers of bleu cheese during the initial baking. Then the final layer on top after removing the foil.
Used 4 oz Idaho Bleu, bleu cheese crumbles for the middle 2 layers. A mild bleu, but flavorful cheese, and quite creamy!
For the top layer, after removing the foil, wuffy used about 3 oz of Salemville, Amish Gorgonzolo cheese crumbles. A more robust "bleu" flavor, with stronger background notes. Definitely a nice cheese, but might be too strong if that's all you were to use.
The Bleu Cheese flavor was noticeable, but not as strong as even a mild bleu cheese salad dressing. The cream, onions, mushrooms, and potatoes mellowed the "bleu"'s power considerably.
A rich, complex, and VERY delightful combination! One this wuffy will DEFINITELY be making again, though not TOO often as it's probably very rich and high in calories.
Last edited on Sun Dec 25th, 2011 11:43 pm by Vargr
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