Pommes Dauphinois becomes Lunch with Bonne Idees: French Fridays with Dorie
I’m home and back in the kitchen just in time to catch the last FFwD for November . Since we weren’t having our Thanksgiving feast with family until the early evening, I decided I’d make the potato gratin for lunch, and what a delicious lunch it was!
First, I rounded out the dish into a main course by adding some sautéed mushrooms and bacon, which I cooked while I heated the half & half and garlic. Half & half, by the way, was not a good substitute for the cream. I had bought organic half & half, thinking it would be thicker than the non-organic, and while it probably was thicker, I overlooked the fact that it was heavy cream, not light cream the recipe required, which made my substitute a rather runny alternative. But I digress….
When heating my cream, I added not only the garlic, but some dried thyme as well as sea salt and pepper. To compile the gratin, I alternated two layers of potatoes with cream mixture and then inserted the mushroom/bacon layer, topped with cream, finishing the dish with a final layer of potatoes topped with cream.
Then it was time to top with cheese. I had a small block of Comte on hand, which is an excellent Gruyère that we fell in love with during a fling with a french style pizza creation (but that is a recipe for another day) both for its sturdy, deep flavor and for its smooth melt.
The gratin took an hour to cook, and I did let it sit for about 10 minutes before serving. And although it was a bit runny, we found that the fresh loaf of Italian bread I picked up at the market was a delicious way to sop up the flavorful liquid.
Once again, FFwD inspires a delicious meal. For the recipe, of course, you will need to get the cookbook. And if you enjoy cooking with a virtual group, French Fridays with Dorie is fun and inspiring group to share your results with. To check out how other people fared with Dorie’s pommes dauphinois, visit here.
This dish morphs into a delicious breakfast, 2 versions: head and top with a sunny-side up egg or break up and scramble with eggs. Either way was taaaaaaasty!
Yes, this dish was wonderful. I made it as is, but next time I will definitely “ruin” it with some bacon or mushrooms (or both).
My whole family loved this gratin, but by now I am used to expect only the best from Dorie.
BTW, your blue-rimmed plates are really pretty.
Amazing! That sounds like a fantastic meal.
Great idea to add bacon! This looks fantastic!
What a great idea to turn this into a complete meal! I love it!
I love your additions to this recipe. Your potato dish looks delicious. Enjoyed reading your post.
We loved these too…and had leftovers a couple of days in a row. I love the mushroom and bacon additions!
And the leftovers were GREAT!
Wow! You took it over the top with the mushrooms and bacon – beautiful job!
Oh my – mushrooms and bacon. I know I made a version with thinly sliced ham and the saltiness of the ham really brought out the flavors. The mushrooms had to just take it over the top. Very nice.