Easy Potato Gratin

Potato Gratin is the perfect side dish to serve with any meal but it also makes a lovely light lunch served with a leafy salad. It can be made ahead of time and simply reheated covered with foil in a moderate oven making it perfect for family gatherings. It is decadent but the optional squirt of lemon juice cuts through the fattiness of the cream and cheese.

Ingredients

• 1 to 1.25 kg potatoes, peeled and finely sliced
• 1 garlic clove, grated or finely chopped
• 1 cup cream
• 75gm parmesan cheese, finely grated
• 1 tsp chopped thyme leaves
• Salt and pepper to season
• Butter or oil to grease the dish
• Squeeze of lemon juice (optional)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan forced. Grease an oven proof baking dish approximately 25cm square (any shape will do but one that is a similar size).

Put the potatoes, garlic, cream, thyme, cheese, salt and pepper (be generous with the salt, potatoes need it) and a good squeeze of lemon juice in a bowl and mix to coat well, coating each slice of potato. Clean hands are the best utensil for this job.

Grease the underside of a piece of aluminium foil large enough to cover the baking dish, this is to prevent all the cheese and potato sticking when you remove the foil. Pour the potatoes into the baking dish, scraping out all the cream, cheese etc and even out with the back of a spoon or spatular.

Cover the baking dish tightly with the foil and bake for 1 hour or until the potatoes are soft. Remove the foil and bake for a further 15 to 20 minutes or until the gratin is golden brown.

This is a handy little dish to have up your sleeve especially with Christmas fast approaching. Although in our house Christmas isn’t Christmas without fluffy, crunchy roast potatoes, but we will get into that another time. Have great week. Enjoy. Sheryl x