How does creamy, cheesy potatoes sound right about now? How about if I told you they were one of the simplest potato dishes I have ever made, aside form baked potatoes, of course.
This French classic, Potatoes Grand Mére, gets its name from "Grand Mother" - and if you've ever had Grandma's cooking, you know it can't be beat. It's an elegant dish and it looks and tastes amazing.
It starts with a few russet potatoes; I used four large ones and it filled my 2 quart casserole dish perfectly. I peeled and sliced them evenly. I could have sliced them with the mandolin, but I was lazy and did it by hand. Its important that the slices stay the same size so that the dish cooks evenly. If you have big pieces and small pieces, you'll either cook to the small ones and have some bigger slices be hard or you'll cook to the large ones and have the smaller ones be mush. It's better to avoid it all together and shoot for uniform thickness.
The rest of the dish couldn't be easier. The dish needs to be greased, and I will tell you to give it a heavy hand. I had an enameled cast iron and thought I was looking pretty nonstick so I gave it a light buttering. It absolutely could have gone better with a heavier greasing.
The potatoes get layered into the dish, and again, try to keep them level and not lumped up in the center of the casserole dish. Season with salt and white pepper, and then heat the liquid ingredients until almost a simmer. Then pour onto the potatoes, making sure the liquid gets through the pieces.
Cover the dish and bake for an hour. When the hour is up, remove the cover and top the potatoes with Parmesan cheese.
We used a fresh block and grated it ourselves because we are serious about cheese around here. If you choose to go with the grated bottled stuff, you're probably still going to be good here. The stuff in the bottle has some fillers in it to keep the cheese from caking and I sometimes like the way it can double as a thickener. You just want to pay attention to salt as the stuff in the bottle can be very salty, especially with a delicate dish like this where there are not a lot of competing flavors.
Once the cheese is added, return the dish to the oven, this time uncovered, for another 30-40 minutes. You'll know when it is finished cooking when the potatoes are cooked through, the top is golden brown, and your whole house smells flipping AMAZING!
They are creamy, tender, delicious! We paired them with steak but they would be great with chicken, meatloaf, ribs, roast...anything you would pair with potatoes is going to be awesome with these! They took a little time but they also took very little effort, and for that, I love these Potatoes Grand Mére! Give them a try and let me know how you like them!
Comments