I don’t know about you, but sometimes I want the humble potato to be more than just a roast ‘spud’ on my plate. Not that I don’t love roasties, but for times when I don’t want to flood the plate with gravy, Dauphinoise Potatoes are just the ticket. I particularly like them with my Roast Pork Shoulder dish, as with the apple sauce combination, they taste fantastic!
Dreamily creamy and rich with a sauce of their own, Dauphinoise Potatoes are simple to create. They take a while to cook in the oven, so definitely not a last minute dish, but the result is more than worth the wait.
Golden Dauphinoise Potato, cooked to perfection.
The cooking time will vary from oven to oven and depends greatly on the type of potato that you use, for best results use a floury potato, rather than the waxy kind (for us here in Portugal, that is the Cozer type as opposed to Fritar). You are aiming for the cream to thicken and not be watery (it bubbles much slower in the oven when it’s cooked), for the potato to be soft (test with a knife) and the top to be a beautiful golden crust.
I think this is even better the following day as the flavours of the garlic and onion really get time to infuse, so I always make sure that I make enough for leftovers!
You will need a deep gratin dish for this recipe and don’t be tempted to overfill else you will have spills as it bubbles up a little.
For a variation, you could always add a little grated cheese, such as Cheddar or Parmesan to the top 15 minutes before the end, I love putting cheese in everything!!
Enjoy!
Dauphinoise Potatoes, a creamy and luxurious potato dish
Ingredients
- 6-8 floury type potatoes, peeled and sliced into thin discs
- 500-800ml of Double cream, depending on the size of your dish (I use Mimosa (para bater) cream in 200ml cartons, but any double cream will do)
- 1 large onion (sliced)
- 3/4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Once you have sliced you potatoes and onion and chopped the garlic, you are ready to assemble the dish.
- Start with a single layer of potato, slightly overlapping each piece to completely cover the base of the dish.
- Season with salt and pepper
- Sprinkle with some garlic, I use approx 1 teaspoon per layer
- Scatter with some onion slices
- Repeat, Potato, season, garlic, onion until you end with a layer of potato approx 2 cm from the top of the dish. For best results complete at LEAST 3 layers.
- Season the top layer of potato and add the cream until the potato is just about covered with cream, you can squish it down a little with your fingers.
- Place in an oven at 180C or equivalent until the dish starts to bubble (approx 40 minutes, then reduce to 170C or equivalent for 1 1/2 to 2 hours until the top is golden, and the potato is soft when tested with a knife.
- If the top starts to become darker brown before the potatoes are cooked, cover with foil and return to the oven.
- The sauce will thicken with the starch from the potatoes.
- Can be easily made in advance and reheated in the oven covering with tin foil, or pop into the microwave until piping hot.
Yum yum!!