This week I was surfing around The Kitchn and stumbled across a recipes for gratin dauphinois recipe (pronounced dow-FEEN-wah). What is gratin dauphinois, you ask? Well it’s a very, very rich version of potatoes au gratin (or potatoes gratiné), despite the fact that it contains no cheese.
Gratin dauphinois gets it names from the Dauphiné region of France. This particular version of potatoes gratiné is cooked simply, with just butter and cream, and involves rubbing a cut clove of garlic throughout the baking dish to infuse the gratin with the flavor of garlic. Overall, this dish is creamy and gooshie and perfect for those cold winter days when nothing seems to keep you quite warm enough. It’s like a big bear hug.
- 2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/8-inch slices (unrinsed)
- 2 cups milk
- 1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 tablespoons cold butter, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, diced
- 1 clove of garlic
- Salt and pepper
- 1/2 cup crème fraîche
- Preheat over to 375°F (190°C).
- In a large saucepan over medium heat, heat potatoes, milk, salt and nutmeg to a simmer. Turn heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring and turning over the potatoes at least once a minute.
- Cut the whole clove of garlic in half and rub the inside of the baking dish with the cut side of the garlic, making sure to get every nook of the dish. Dice this last clove of garlic and add it to the rest. Dot the bottom of the dish with the butter.
- Once the potatoes are done simmering, add half of the potatoes to the baking dish. Sprinkle gently with salt and pepper, and spread around half of the crème fraîche. Sprinkle with half of the garlic.
- Add the rest of the potatoes to the dish, and finish with another layer of salt and pepper, the rest of the crème fraîche, and the remainder of the diced garlic. Pour the remainder of the potatoes cooking liquid into the dish.
- Slide baking dish into oven and cook for 40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown. If you like, finish it with 2 minutes in the broiler to get the golden brown top. Allow gratin dauphinois to sit 10 minutes before serving.
Notes from The Kitchn:
- There shouldn’t be more than 2-3 inches of potatoes in the dish so that it bakes correctly. If you want to double the recipe, it’s a good idea to use separate baking dishes or one larger one so that it remains on the shallow side.
- Gratin dauphinois is a great dish to make ahead of time and reheat (reheat at 350° for 15-20 minutes), it only gets more oozey and delicious the next day.
If you like this gratin dauphinois recipe, check out these other potato dishes:
- Mashed Potatoes Colcannon Recipe
- Onion Potato au Gratin
- Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Gratin Recipe
This content was originally posted on FearlessFresh.com.
This is very timely! I’ve been assigned a gratin dish for casserole night at a meetup dinner! Can’t wait to try it out!
This is the sort of dish I can never ever pass up but then I feel yucky because I’m lactose intolerant. Will it stop me from making it? Nope.
Man this sounds good. You should add it to Real Food Weekly. People would go crazy over it.
Whoa, that looks good. And I’m not a milky/creamy lover, in general.
Thanks for the recipe Stephanie. I was looking for something to do with my potatoes other than making mashed potatoes. I love potatoes gratin
This is very similar to the version that Cooks Illustrated recommends (only I’m pretty sure they use heavy cream). Interesting that the key to this dish is keeping it simple.
Gratin Dauphinois is such a classic. I can never pass it up!
I love gratin – will definitely have to sample this one (because obviously one would need to sample MANY gratin dishes to find just the right one!)
And Dauphinois sounds SO much better than scalloped potatoes. So nice for a chilly day.
And their tip explains why mine sometimes doesn’t get cooked in the time I think it should. I pile the potatoes too high.
Wow. Your recipes just keep getting better and better. My husband and sons will LOVE me for this one.
Nutmeg. If a recipe has nutmeg, I’m in.
Sounds like perfect comfort food especially given the icy weather we’ve been having lately.
Jeanine