Voici (here), my son’s favourite, the gratin dauphinois ! Certainly, a French classic, something very easy to make, incredibly creamy and “fondant”! To make it spicier, I added some Spanish chorizo.



Here’s the recipe…..

You will need:


potatoes, 1 kg.
chorizo, 100 gr or more.
cream, 300 gr.
milk, 300 gr.
garlic, 1 clove.
nutmeg, freshly grated.
butter, 25 gr.
piment d’Espelette &  fleur de Sel.



Pre-heat your oven 170°C. Peel the potatoes and slice them very thinly. In a jug, put together  the cream, milk, salt and pepper. Ground nutmeg to taste. Cut the chorizo into thin slices, make them sauté in a non-stick frying pan to remove excessive fat (do not add any kind of oil to do this!). Rub a gratin dish with the garlic and the butter. Layer the potatoes into the dish (half quantity). Put some of the chorizo slices. Layer the other half of potatoes. Cover with the mixture of cream, milk and spices. Cover the dish with aluminum foil to prevent too much browning. Cook 60′ in the oven. Turn up  the oven heat to 200°C (for the gratin effect). Remove the foil. Decorate with the rest of chorizo slices. Cook 10′ or until golden. Another French touch: sprinkle the gratin with piment d’Espelette and fleur de Sel


Serves one big gratin dish.
Here I used these pretty “cassoulettes” a friend gave me for Xmas ! ( serves 6) I cooked 60′ with the lid on, and the final 10′ without. Be careful not to layer the potatoes too high, if not the cream will overflow…(this happened to me! although I had made this gratin many times before, it was my first time with the mini-cassoulettes!) 
Enjoy !



PS: you will find recipes telling you to boil the potatoes in milk before putting them in the gratin dish…Not necessary (unless you are in a rush). 60′ in the oven will make these thin slices more than tender…!

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