Gratin Dauphinois

Source: http://www.cuisine-france.com/recipes/gratin_dauphinois.htm

Ingredients
2lb (1kg) potatoes (waxy potatoes such as pink fir apple, russet)
1 or 2 cloves garlic, mashed
2 oz butter
2 cups (50cl) whole milk
5 oz (160g) French or Swiss Gruyère cheese
1 pint double cream
Salt and pepper

Directions

Step 1: Preheat oven to 360ºF (180 ºC). Slice the potatoes into thin slices (1/8 inch thick). Rinse in cold water. Drain and dry in a towel

Step 2: Put the potatoes in a pan and cover with milk. Add salt

Step 3: Bring to the boil starting at moderate heat for 5 minutes then low heat for 10 minutes. Stir from time to time.

Step 4: Rub a fireproof dish with garlic and grease it well with butter. Transfer half of the potatoes in the gratin dish. Add half the cheese, double cream and pepper to the layer. Put the second half of the potatoes and cover with the cheese and double cream left.

Step 5: Put the dish in the oven and cook for 1 hour at 360ºF (180 ºC). Gratin Dauphinois is ready when the top is gold and brown.

Notes: I grew up eating potatoes au gratin on Christmas (even though I usually didn't like cheese growing up, I always loved this dish), with our traditional Christmas ham. When we went to Brussels, I had Gratin Dauphinois (wikipedia provides a nice explanation of the name) that were absolutely unreal. The only way I can describe them is that they tasted like Ryan's love. We wanted to try to recreate them, so we tried this recipe out. For the record, the gratin we had in Brussels was so far beyond what I made, you really can't compare (we were basically eating gourmet food there, so what do you expect?). But, this recipe was still really good. And please, for the love, buy the gruyere (at Walmart the cheapest was $16, but look around because at another grocery store, I found a block for $6). And the cream. If you want to skip the fat and flavor and go with low-fat milk and cheddar, just buy the boxed stuff off the shelf rather than make the effort! Also, this recipe had a ton of extra cheese sauce. We saved it and drizzled it over our stuffed zucchini (great recipe, Laurel!) and it was fabulous!