Potatoes with Garlic and Gruyère | Nigel Slater

As the outside temperature drops, there is nothing more warming than a potato gratin dish. This recipe from Nigel Slater calls for infusing cream with slices of garlic, bay leaves and clove. Let the aromatic infusion rest for at least twenty minutes, preferably longer. Once baked, the scent from the kitchen smells like the autumn air, except warmer, more welcoming and without the chill.

The key to this dish is to slice the potatoes really thin. The use of a mandoline makes the slicing much faster. I didn’t bother to peel the russet potatoes I had on hand. Once the potatoes are scrubbed clean, the slice is so thin that the skin is barely visible. By the way, do you know that potato skin has more nutrients than the interior of the potato? It has lots of fiber, about half of a medium potatoe’s fiber is from the skin.

Baking time in the 320°F oven may differ from kitchen to kitchen. The rule of the thumb is at least one hour. After that, watch the top crust on the potato and bake until it’s “appetizingly brown” as Slater says.

The potatoes with garlic and Gruyère is just perfect for the autumn table. It’s so rich and delicious that I’m able to sneak in a kale salad, without the customary objection from my family. A high and low-brow kind of combination that’d curtail comment like: “is this kale, again?” This potato dish would save the day — especially in the autumn!

Print Recipe

Potatoes with Garlic and Gruyère

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 7 cloves garlic
• 700ml half-and-half
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cloves
• 150g Gruyère or Comte
• 4 medium potatoes, (I used russet)
• 30g butter
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

1

MAKE THE GARLIC INFUSION: Peel the garlic and cut it into paper-thin slices then put it into a medium-sized saucepan with the half-and-half, bayleaf, cloves and milk. Bring the cream and milk mixture to the boil, turn off the heat, cover with a lid and set aside to infuse. The aromatics need 20 minutes or so in the liquid in order to work their magic, but lend a warm, mellow quality to the dish that's worthy of the time.

2

Preheat the oven at 160°C/ 320°F.

3

GRATE THE CHEESE AND SLICE THE POTATOES: Coarsely grate the cheese. Peel the potatoes (I skipped the peeling) and slice them as thinly as you can, using a mandolin cutter if you have one.

4

BAKE THE POTATOES: Butter a large, shallow baking dish or roasting tin. Place a single layer of potato slices over the base then add a handful of the grated cheese, scattered evenly over the surface. Add salt and black pepper and a little of the sliced garlic from the infusion, too.

5

Continue with more potatoes and the remaining cheese until you have used them all up, seasoning each layer as you go. Pour the infused cream over the surface, then bake for 1 hour and 50 minutes to upward of 2 hours, until the top is appetizingly brown and the potatoes are meltingly tender.

Notes

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/nov/19/nigel-slater-potatoes-recipes