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Potatoes, cheese, garlic, etc. ready to assemble. Inset: the recipe page from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I.
(Click on the photo and then click again to enlarge the recipe.) |
Gratin Dauphinois is one of our favorite dishes. It's made from layers of potatoes, Gruyère cheese, and butter, and lightly flavored with garlic (and when I make it, with a little chopped onion). You pour hot milk over all, and bake in a hot oven until the top is golden brown. The taste is quite different from American scalloped potatoes, though there's a family resemblance.
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| Alice assembling the dish. |
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| Gratin Dauphinois, ready to serve. |
Len and I first tasted this dish many years ago in Grenoble,
in the Dauphiné region of France for which the dish is named. We spent a year there just after college, when Len had a Fulbright fellowship. I was delighted to show Alice how to make this family favorite.
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| This morning's birds: swallows on the pier at Burke Lake near Fairfax where we are visiting. |
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| A duck on the lake. |
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Alice sitting on her favorite bench. The lake shore has eroded so that her feet dangled over the water.
Miriam didn't join us because she was at running practice again. |
It looks delicious! I always fall back on my favorite scalloped potatoes for Easter but I might think about this one. The onion addition sounds delish!
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite gratins! So rich, and goes so well with a baked ham or other roasted meat. Good stuff -- thanks.
ReplyDeleteOh my Mae, this potato dish looks heavenly. I'm sure it tasted amazing and full of love after Alice spent such time assembling it:)
ReplyDeleteMy legs would get tired holding them up like Alice, lol...Darn that erosion!
Thanks for sharing, Mae...
My mother made a great gratin dauphinois. My granddad loved it so when they came to eat with us my mom would often make it. The nice thing about this gratin is that it goes with so many dishes – she would make un cop au vin, ou un ragoût, ou un gigot d’agneau (easier for me to say in French.) Yours looks very appétissant!
ReplyDeleteThat's a great recipe -- I've made that many times myself since I first discovered it way back when.
ReplyDeleteWill have to try the recipe -- looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteI think it's the Gruyère cheese that separates it from scalloped potatoes. I love that dish, and haven't made it in too long.
ReplyDeleteWe have a tried-and-true potato casserole we serve at all family gatherings, but this one sounds great for the times I'd like to make a gathering more special.
ReplyDeleteYou can't beat a gratin for comfort food. It looks cheesy and delicious.
ReplyDeleteAloha, Deb--Kahakai Kitchen
I love gratin dauphinois. The best potatoes I had in France were in Annecy and Sarlat. Happy Easter.
ReplyDeleteGreat recipe and photos. I have a Williams Sinoma French cookbook with a dynamite recipe for dauphinois and love to prepare it. I like your presentation. And I Love the swallows! Gorgeous birds.
ReplyDeleteI love that you shared this French recipe and the history of it. Thanks so much for playing along with Dreaming of France. Hope you'll play again today. Here’s my Dreaming of France meme
ReplyDeleteLooks delicious and a dream dish for a potato lover like me.
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