Potato Dauphinois

Escoffier, the great French chef is credited with this potato dish which he called ‘gratin Dauphinois’. I’m not certain he created it originally, but the recipe I give below is certainly his.

You need:

1kg potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly
1 egg, beaten
500ml scalded milk
150g grated Gruyère cheese
Salt, pepper and grated nutmeg to taste.

Preheat the oven to 200°C, 375°F

Rub the inside of an earthenware oven dish with garlic, then butter it generously.

In a bowl, thoroughly mix all the ingredients except the cheese and transfer them to the oven dish, layering the potato carefully to get an even depth all round. Cover with the cheese, dot with ‘nuts’ of butter and bake for 45 minutes.

I have seen other versions of this dish that omit the cheese and use cream instead of milk. If you would like to try that, use the same amount of cream as you would milk, but do not heat it before mixing with the potato.

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