Thanksgiving Au Gratin

Thanksgiving is here again and I am so thankful for this great holiday of family time and awesome dishes! What a combo :)

I’ve always been a HUGE fan of potatoes; they are such a yummy comfort food. This crazy ‘Potato Love’ started at childhood and my uncle used to tease me by calling me “Batata” – ‘sweet potato’ in Hebrew. ( Btw- I teased him right back by calling him Mr. Zucchini 🙂 ) So you can understand how much I love creating dishes with potatoes. This idea came to me a few good years ago when I was asked to bring a side dish to a Thanksgiving gathering. I just love finding all kinds of potatoes and a gratin is a perfect way to bring them together.

You will need:

2 lb. Potato (Russet)

1 lb. Sweet Potato

1 lb. Purple (Sweet) Potato

2 medium Shallots

5 Garlic cloves

1½ tbsp. (20 gr.) Butter

2 cups (500 ml.) Heavy Cream

2 cups Gruyere Cheese grated

2 cups Parmesan Cheese grated

2 tbsp. Thyme leaves

1 Bay Leaf

¼ tsp. Nutmeg grated

1 tbsp. Zaa’tar

1 tsp. Salt

½ tsp. Black Pepper

For Plating:

Thyme

Zaa’tar

A word about Potatoes…

Since the goal in this dish is to slice all the potatoes into even circles, whenever I pick the potatoes I keep that in mind. Do your best to pick similar sized, bumpless, smooth looking potatoes. Use any variety of potatoes you like, but keep a ratio that has just a little more of the regular potatoes to allow enough starch in the dish.

Let’s get to work!

Peel all the potatoes.

Slice the potatoes into a little less than ¼ inch sized slices. This time I used the food processor slicer, but you can use a mandoline slicer or if you are a confident enough do it by hand 🙂 While the potato slices hang aside, I separate the purple potatoes from the others… sometimes the color stain the others.

Peel the garlic cloves and shallots.

Roughly quarter the shallots.

Add shallots, garlic and bay leaf in a saucepan. Add heavy cream and bring to a gentle simmer on medium heat.

Allow simmering for 10 minutes or until the garlic and shallot pieces become soft.

Grate nutmeg into the heavy cream mixture. Add salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Turn off the heat and take out the bay leaf. Using an immersion hand blender or any blender, blend it all into a smooth mixture.

Butter up a casserole dish; mine is rectangle shaped 9×13 (3 Qt.), but any shape works here…actually you can even do this dish in individual ones…it is so cute!

Start arranging the potato slices overlapping and alternating the different colors. Keep adding slices until the dish is full and the slices feel quite close to one another.

Scatter thyme leaves over the potatoes. To strip the leaves off the stem, run your fingers from top to bottom against the leaves’ growing direction.

Time to pour the heavy cream mixture over the potatoes. Make sure the mixture coats them all, especially the top.

Grate the Gruyere and the Parmesan.

Add the two cheeses on top. Press down for an even spread.

Now, sprinkle some Zaa’tar on top of it all. This middle eastern spice gives this dish a really unique taste and aroma. Cover the dish well with aluminum foil and bake in a 400° preheated oven for 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes take the foil off the bake uncovered for 15 more minutes.

Set the oven to low broil and broil the top for about 5 minutes. This will give the dish a great color a yummy crust on top. Take the dish out of the oven and allow it to rest and set for about 10 minutes before serving.

Serve it with some sprinkled Zaa’tar and fresh thyme leaves on top. Anybody who tries this goodness will be so thankful! 🙂

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Quick Recipe:

Thanksgiving Au Gratin-

Peel Potatoes and slice them into ¼ inch sized slices.

Spread Butter on a casserole dish evenly.

Arrange the Potato slices in the dish overlapping the different colors.

Spread Thyme leaves onto the potato slices.

Combine Shallots, Garlic and Bay Leaf with Heavy Cream in a saucepan.

Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 10 minutes.

Add Nutmeg, Salt and Black Pepper.

Remove Bay Leaf and turn the heat off.

Blend into a smooth mixture.

Pour cream mixture over the potato slices and coat well.

Add grated Gruyere Cheeses and Parmesan Cheese on top.

Sprinkle with Zaa’tar evenly.

Cover in aluminum foil and bake in a 400° preheated oven for 45 minutes.

Uncover the dish and continue baking for additional 15 minutes.

Broil on low broil for about 5 minutes.

Set aside to cool and set before serving.

* Serve with some more Zaa’tar and fresh Thyme leaves.