Hello!
Fat Englishman here….
Some of you who spotted a picture I recently posted on my Facebook page of a particularly scrumptious Gratin Dauphinois have asked about the recipe.
There are of course many such recipes but the one Mrs. Englishman turns to – with great success every time – is from The French Kitchen – A Cookbook by Joanne Harris and Fran Warde. This is very fine book indeed for those of you wanting to produce some decently authentic French food and I have no hesitation recommending it to you. Not only is it chock full of jolly good recipes, but there are also plenty of what the French might call “tricques de la traid” – as you will see from the recipe below.
Another factor in the books favour is that Joanne Harris is also the author of Chocolat, that wonderfully evocative film of French rural life and manners upset by the intoxicating powers of the finest of chocolate. Ms. Harris seems to have gleaned much of her culinary insight from her grandmother and mother – whom I believe she based the main character in Chocolat on.
Anyway – to the the main event.
Gratin Dauphinois (with thanks to the humble cow, without which we would have virtually none of the ingredients for this magnificent dish)
Apparently it should take around 30 minutes to prepare the dish, though I always say that depends on what you’re drinking at the time and who with.
Cooking time is 1hr and 45 minutes or so.
This recipe serves 6 – but I feel honour-bound to point out that people will want more so you might as well make it (and if they don’t it’s because they must be those terrible people who are more concerned with their “figure” than enjoying a good meal with friends so you shouldn’t invite them back). Anyway the quantities are for six, but if you double up a large, deep dish Lasagna pan should probably be adequate to the task.
So… you will need;
2.25lbs potatoes (preferably on the waxy side of things)
1 clove of garlic, crushed and peeled
3.5oz butter
20fl oz pouring cream
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
3.5oz Gruyere cheese – grated
1. Heat your oven to 300 degrees F
2. Peel your potatoes and slice them as finely as possible using a mandolin or food processor. As they are sliced put them in a bowl of cold water,moving them around to remove as much of the starch as possible. Rinse and do it again. And once more for luck.
3. Drain the potatoes well and dry them very thoroughly. This is very important. Too many Dauphinois are compromised by the use of potatoes that are too wet. There are two good tricks to use here (I suspect passed down to Ms. Harris from her mother or grandmother – this is one of the facets of the book I mentioned earlier). The first is to use a salad spinner until all the water is spun away from the potatoes. The second (presumably if you don’t possess the salad spinner) is to place the potatoes in a tea towel, bring the corners together so they are securely trapped inside and then proceed to a sufficiently large space (possibly outside) and swing you your arm “as fast and as vigorously as you can” (I kid you not – that’s what the recipe says). Of course such exertion could end badly so opt for the salad spinner if you have it – unless you have an irritatingly young enthusiastic and athletic volunteer, in which case let them risk injuring their shoulder.
4. Then things calm down again. Rub a large, shallow ovenproof dish with the garlic and a little of the butter (just enough to line the dish)
5. Put the remaining butter with the cream in a saucepan and bring it barely to the boil. While it is warming up, finely slice the remaining garlic and add it to the butter and cream along with the seasoning and the (now dry) potato slices. When this all reaches boiling point, gently simmer for 8 minutes. Don’t let it boil too hard.
6. When the 8 minutes are up, transfer everything to the dish you have so lovingly prepared for it, top evenly with the Gruyere and add a little more seasoning for luck.
7. Introduce it to the oven and bake for 1.5 hours or until it looks irresistibly browned and delicious. Serve piping hot.
8. Enjoy the groans of delight and almost limitless praise for your proven culinary talents.
And this is what being Fat and Happy is really all about!
Enjoy!
Happy Eating.
Fatty
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