Potato gratin is a wonderful dish. It’s not quick to make, but it doesn’t require much attention either. All you need to do is to peel and slice a few potatoes, heat some cream, put the sliced potatoes into an ovenproof mold, pour the cream over them and put them in the oven to bake.
Gratin is great as both a main dish and a side dish. It can be served for lunch or dinner. And on the second day, it almost tastes better so do remember to keep and reheat the leftovers!
In this recipe, we first infuse the cream with garlic flavor, by heating it over low heat.
The hardest part of this recipe is slicing the potatoes. For the gratin to cook evenly, each slice must be the same thickness. Ideally, use a vegetable slicer (mandolin ) for slicing them. With it, it will take you 2-3 minutes to slice 5-6 potatoes, and the error in thicknesses will be minimal.
We won’t get a lot of dishes dirty. Heat cream in one pan, spread butter in another… No, we’ll make everything as user-friendly and effortless as possible in one pan.
A couple more words about the cream… We have two options. We can use 15-18% cream or we can use 33% cream and dilute it with milk. In the US, we have what they call half-and-half. Half cream and half milk. It doesn’t make any difference, just go with what you have on hand or what you find in the store.
In the recipe, I will describe the second option.
Ingredients
- 400-500 ml cream (15-18% fat) or 250 ml 33% cream + 250 ml milk
- 2 garlic cloves
- 750g potatoes
- 75 g Parmesan or Gran Padano cheese
- 25 g butter
- ¼ teasp. nutmeg
- salt
- black pepper
Cooking
Step 0. Preparation.
Take the cream and milk out of the refrigerator 2 hours before cooking. This is to allow the cream to warm up to room temperature and not curdle when heated from a sudden temperature change. Mix the milk and cream well. Preheat the oven to 360 degrees F (180 C).
Step 1.
Peel and crush 2 cloves of garlic with a knife. Pour half the cream (or milk and cream mixture) into a shallow pan. Add the garlic. Cook over low heat for 15 minutes.
Step 2.
Meanwhile, wash, peel and slice the potatoes into thin slices, about 5-6 mm thick. Grate 75 g of Parmesan on a fine grater.
Step 3.
Remove the pan from the heat and season the cream with a pinch of salt, a pinch of pepper and freshly grated nutmeg (about ¼ teasp.). Stir to combine. Transfer the potatoes to a skillet (leave a little to make a nice top layer). Arrange them evenly.
Step 4.
Pour in the remaining cream so that it barely touches the top layer of potatoes. Spread the top layer of potatoes in a circle with a little overlap.
Step 5.
Lightly press the top down with your fingers to evenly distribute the creamy sauce. Sprinkle with parmesan. Put a few small cubes of butter on top. Bake for 50-60 minutes until golden brown. The potatoes are ready when you can easily pierce them with a wooden skewer.
As a side dish for potato gratin you can cook this air fryer frozen brussel sprouts.
Classic Potato Gratin (fast and easy!)
Ingredients
- 750 g potatoes
- 400-500 ml cream (15-18% fat) (Or 400-500 Half&Half or 250 ml 33% cream + 250 ml milk)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 75 g Parmesan or Gran Padano cheese
- 25 g butter
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- salt
- black pepper
Instructions
- Take the cream and milk out of the refrigerator 2 hours before cooking. This is to allow the cream to warm up to room temperature and not curdle when heated from a sudden temperature change. Mix the milk and cream well. Preheat the oven to 360 degrees F (180 C).
- Peel and crush 2 cloves of garlic with a knife. Pour half the cream (or milk and cream mixture) into a shallow pan. Add the garlic. Cook over low heat for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, wash, peel and slice the potatoes into thin slices, about 5-6 mm thick. Grate 75 g of Parmesan on a fine grater.
- Remove the pan from the heat and season the cream with a pinch of salt, a pinch of pepper and freshly grated nutmeg (about ¼ teasp.). Stir to combine. Transfer the potatoes to a skillet (leave a little to make a nice top layer). Arrange them evenly.
- Pour in the remaining cream so that it barely touches the top layer of potatoes. Spread the top layer of potatoes in a circle with a little overlap.
- Lightly press the top down with your fingers to evenly distribute the creamy sauce. Sprinkle with parmesan. Put a few small cubes of butter on top. Bake for 50-60 minutes until golden brown. The potatoes are ready when you can easily pierce them with a wooden skewer.
