Gratin Dauphinois - perfect Easter side dish

Le Gratin Dauphinois is by far one of my (and my daughter’s) favorite side dishes that is a wonderful accompaniment for grilled meat or any pot roast. Originating from the Dauphiné region of France (whose capital is the city of Grenoble), this ultimate soul food is often served during most fêtes or special holidays, such as Easter, Christmas or any other holiday.

A perfect melange of milk, cream, potatoes, garlic and butter (as well as cheese - though optional, and thus rendering a Gratin Savoyard instead), make this dish simply irresistible! Though this may not be the case for our lactose intolerant friends...

Unfortunately, I’m unaware of any substitutes in this case, but am sure there are bound to be some these days. Please do comment below if you have some suggestions, and I’ll gladly give them a try!

When I was attending Hotel Managenent school in Lyon quite a few years back, we used to spend a few weeks in the fine dining restaurant kitchen, learning how to tourne potatoes and carrots, amongst other things... normally leaving the more complicated detailed work to the culinary students... but one of my finest memories was watching the head chef, Chef Lecossec teach us how to make the perfect grain Dauphinois. The taste testing bit was always my favorite time of the lesson... 😛 Normally not much of a potato person, I would take a gratin Dauphinois over pasta, rice or bread any day!!!

Now several years down the road, I may not make quite the same gratin I learned to make way back when - perfectly layered in a geometrical fashion - as I now have three children, or should I say four, if you include my sweet man-child husband... hehehe... who love to keep mama busy! BUT I assure you, it tastes just the same!

So, to accompany your Easter Lamb roast, I hope you’ll give this gratin Dauphinois a go!

Serves: 6

INGREDIENTS:

- 1.3 kgs potatoes

- 3-4 cloves of garlic

- 1 litre of milk

- 1 tsp salt

- 1/4 tsp pepper or to taste

- pinch of nutmeg

- 250 ml cooking cream

- 80 g butter (cut into small cubes)

- 100 g gruyère cheese (grated - optional)

METHOD:

1) Pre-heat oven to 180 C.

2) Wash potatoes, peel and slice thinly with a mandoline slicer. Place in a medium pot.

3) Pour milk over the potatoes and add 2-3 sliced garlic cloves, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Heat over low-medium heat, stirring from time to time to ensure the milk is not burning at the bottom. Allow to simmer ever so slightly for around 8-10 minutes. Potatoes should soften just a little, but still hold together without breaking apart.

4) In between stirring, prepare rectangular baking dish (28 cm x 18 cm x 5 cm is ideal) by rubbing the bottom and sides with butter and a garlic clove cut into half. As one of my daughters isn’t a fan of cheese, I made a smaller portion for her without cheese in a smaller earthenware dish.

5) Once potatoes are slightly softened, drain them in a colander, and gently spoon them into the baking dish. Pour cream over the potatoes, and if using cheese, sprinkle it over the entire dish, and then add the cubes of butter evenly on top of the potatoes and cheese. If NOT using cheese, simply pour cream over the potatoes and add little cubes of butter on top.