Jonah wrote:The Blue Marble Dairy cream, available at the Green City Market and the Evanston Farmer's Market, is outstanding. It's just the real thing, pasteurized, I believe with no additives. I don't want to know the butterfat content.

Jonah

Do you know which stand sells the cream you mention? I haven't seen it at the Evanston Farmer's Market. Thanks!

Kenny from Rogers Park wrote:

Jonah wrote:The Blue Marble Dairy cream, available at the Green City Market and the Evanston Farmer's Market, is outstanding. It's just the real thing, pasteurized, I believe with no additives. I don't want to know the butterfat content.

Jonah

Do you know which stand sells the cream you mention? I haven't seen it at the Evanston Farmer's Market. Thanks!

The Blue Marble Creamery is on the west side of the Evanston Farmers Market, not far from the Seedling's stand.

Thanks!

Fresh Farms on Touhy sells Kemp's Heavy Whipping Cream (Pasturized with contents: cream & carrageenan) for .99. They also sell several other types who's pedigree I can't vouch for, but the low priced Kemp's is what I happen to have in my fridge at the moment.

The GP wrote:

Kenny from Rogers Park wrote:

Jonah wrote:The Blue Marble Dairy cream, available at the Green City Market and the Evanston Farmer's Market, is outstanding. It's just the real thing, pasteurized, I believe with no additives. I don't want to know the butterfat content.

Jonah

Do you know which stand sells the cream you mention? I haven't seen it at the Evanston Farmer's Market. Thanks!

The Blue Marble Creamery is on the west side of the Evanston Farmers Market, not far from the Seedling's stand.

Update on Blue Marble's location at the Evanston Market: last week (8/15), they were along the parking garage.

Made it last night, using Gary's improved recipe, with pasteurized-only heavy cream, and switching out half the pecorino for a nice Gouda from Costco. Rocked the world, bigtime! Tnx to y'awl, Gary esp., who built this thread.

Geo

With sunchokes readily available in local markets these days, I swapped out the potatoes today, and made a sunchoke gratin. I was a little concerned that it would be too liquidy since sunchokes don’t have the same starch as potatoes, but I needn't have fret - the gratin came out darn near perfect. Here's approximately what I did (measurements are rough guesses).

Sunchoke Gratin
- Pound of sunchokes, haphazardly peeled and sliced relatively thin.
- Cup of Blue Marble Heavy Cream
- 4 oz Green Fields Cheese from Saxon Creamery, shredded
- 4 oz Krotovina, shredded (hard sheeps' milk grating cheese from Prairie Fruits Farm)
- 1-2 tbs butter
- thyme, salt and pepper
- a lemon

In a well-buttered gratin dish, layer sunchoke slices, overlapping slightly. Sprinkle with a little lemon juice, thyme, salt, pepper, and 1/3 of the cream and cheese. Repeat until you've made 3 layers. Bake covered at 375 degrees for 40 minutes, then uncovered at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Let it rest for 10-15 minutes (vital step) before serving.

Sunchoke Gratin:



Served with a green galad, truffle-mustard vinaigrette:


Very good dinner, but can someone come over to wash that pan? Crusty, browned cream is stubborn.

HI,

I saw a potato gratin variation recently where the sliced potatoes were cooked on the stove in cream to cover. Once cooked (or almost cooked), then placed in a gratin pan with cheese. Has anyone tried it?

Regards,

I have an it works perfectly. If you have Julia Childs cookbooks, you will find this is her prefered method.

PKramer wrote:I have an it works perfectly. If you have Julia Childs cookbooks, you will find this is her prefered method.

I do have her books and will check.

Thank you for the feedback!

Regards,

FWIW, one of my all-time favorite cookbooks--Antoine Bouterin's Cooking Provence--features that exact method for what he calls a gratin du paysan, or "Country Casserole." He boils the sliced potatoes in milk, not cream, for ten minutes (adding only garlic and nutmeg). Then pours the potatoes into a gratin dish, tops (not layers) with gruyere, broils until melted and serves.

Cathy2 wrote:HI,

I saw a potato gratin variation recently where the sliced potatoes were cooked on the stove in cream to cover. Once cooked (or almost cooked), then placed in a gratin pan with cheese. Has anyone tried it?

Regards,

Yes - an extremely reliable and very satisfying method. I've done it with cauliflower, too but potatoes are infinitely better in this application.

=R=

Hi,

Simmer potatoes in a mixture of cream and whole milk with a bay leaf and minced shallot. Finished in a buttered gratin dish with parmesan grated on top. Terrific!

Thanks for the affirmations this was a good method.

Regards,

I actually used this method after seeing it on the Jacques cooks with Julia series on PBS. Pepin suggests that you use only milk and not to rinse the potatoes after slicing. The starch in the potatoes will thicken the dish. I only use garlic and use the same pan for stove top and oven (one less dish). Very easy dish and I'll be making it again soon with a ham my wife received for a holiday gift.

LTH,

Incorporated the simmer in milk/cream method with a sideways twist, Habanero jack cheese. Why would I use habanero cheese? I opened the fridge it stood up waved its arms and shouted Pick Me! Pick Me!, how could I resist? In for a penny, in for a pound, so I added serrano, crushed red pepper and garlic to my potato gratin, I am sure a Frenchman somewhere someplace was rolling over in his grave.

Ducks in a Row





Peeled thinly sliced russets were simmered in a mix of cream, milk, salt, pepper, garlic and serrano until not-quite tender. Added to a lightly greased gratin pan and topped with shredded habanero Monterey jack cheese.

Gratin ready for oven



Approximately 40-minutes at 375 and then rest for 10-minutes



I liked the texture of this gratin, potatoes had a silky quality and the gratin itself was firmer, less runny, than in gratins past. Thanks KennyZ for the suggestion to let the gratin rest.

I made an old favorite to accompany the gratin, Corn Flake Chicken, thighs in this case, I've been eating this dish once or twice a year for decades.

Dead simple recipe, crush corn flakes, mix melted butter, egg, salt, pepper and, in this case, crushed red pepper, sliced garlic and serrano. Coat chicken, bake. My slightly smallish chicken thighs took 45-minutes at 375 to crispy corn flake juicy chicken goodness.

Crushed corn flakes, melted butter, eggs, garlic, crushed red pepper, fresh serrano



Salt and pepper chicken, sprinkle with serrano and fresh sliced garlic.



Top with cornflakes, bake at 375 for 45-minutes



Plate, eat, enjoy



Chicken was very juicy, gratin surprisingly not all that spicy hot, though I may have lost perspective on what constitutes spicy.



Enjoy,
Gary

Gary wrote: though I may have lost perspective on what constitutes spicy.

Ya think??!

And yes, somewhere there is a platoon of French chefs saying "Nous sommes chocée, au choc, nous disons!!" Serves 'em right! You go, Gary!

Geo

So, do you gratin mavins think it would be OK to make this dish ahead of time up to the browning stage and pop it in the oven to brown up at service time?

stevez wrote:So, do you gratin mavins think it would be OK to make this dish ahead of time up to the browning stage and pop it in the oven to brown up at service time?

absolutely, I've done it many times. You can even brown it all the way then just reheat with no harm.

The Sunchoke Gratin looks amazing- agreed- btw-I don't want to know the butter fat content either, but I AM getting some!

Looks good. One note on the seasonings. I think that a sprinkle of paprika helps with the browing of the dish and provides maybe a touch of flavor. I'm not sure regular store bought paprika does anything much other than act as a browning agent for baked chicken and potatoe dishes such as this but I always use it. When I get done with my current supply I will buy some paprika at Bende's or go to Penzeys. Supposedly Bendes has the real stuff imported from Hungary.

toria wrote:Supposedly Bendes has the real stuff imported from Hungary.

As does Spice House (several varieties from diferent places including Hungary).

Isn't the Szeged brand, which is in a lot of supermarkets, imported from Hungary as well?

This thread has gone in many different directions, but I wanted to post that I tried the "original" G Wiv / Jacques Pepin potatoes last night and they turned out perfectly. The clincher for me was adding a layer of truffle cream* between the layers of potatoes.

I par-boiled the potatoes and then layered them with the truffle cream, salt and pepper and nobs of butter. Topped the whole thing off with a thick blanket of Vermont Shepherd's cheese which has the profile of pecorino. Then enough cream to come half way up the dish. 30 minutes in a hot oven and the result was perfectly bubbly and just as perfumed as you'd imagine.



Served with a nicely rare and rested steak:


You'll note that's a small portion at serving. They are very rich and I'm saving the leftovers as a base for an over easy huevo. Thank you once again for the inspiration!

*For those put off by the taste of truffle oil, this is a completely different product and a very very nice thing to be given (or gift yourself) indeed. Find more here http://www.ilmercatoitaliano.net/Shop/Imported-Italian-Sauces-and-Tomatoes/La-Madia-Regale-White-Truffle-Cream

For New Year's Eve, I made this Serious Eats hasselback potato gratin recipe and I have to say this was absolutely the best potato gratin I have ever tasted. The method of preparation means that part of each potato slice is soft and creamy while the other part is crispy - really magical for someone like me who loves both textures. And you'll gasp at its appearance coming out of the oven - just beautiful.

Obviously, you can play with the cheeses you use but the recipe as written is perfect. Trust me, you'll want to make this soon.

Gypsy Boy wrote:FWIW, one of my all-time favorite cookbooks--Antoine Bouterin's Cooking Provence--features that exact method for what he calls a gratin du paysan, or "Country Casserole." He boils the sliced potatoes in milk, not cream, for ten minutes (adding only garlic and nutmeg). Then pours the potatoes into a gratin dish, tops (not layers) with gruyere, broils until melted and serves.

Welp...now you've done it! While reading through this thread, I realized that I had just the right ingredients to make a single-serving version and this method just sounded soooo eeeeeasy. I had to try it! And it was easy! And delicious!

I covered half a thinly sliced baking potato with cream and half & half (no milk on hand), added a small bay leaf, nutmeg, cayenne, salt, pepper, and a dash of garlic powder (ran out of fresh garlic). I boiled it for 10 minutes, then transferred to a single-serving gratin, covered with shredded gruyere, and broiled until golden on top.



This is so darn easy compared to the baking method, and I can't believe how good it was. I'll be making it next time I need to impress.

I like the Pepin "boil the potatoes first" (in water) method when entertaining, its easy to prep the potatoes in advance (even the day before) & then assemble the gratin minus the cream. I add the cream just before baking & voila, 30 minutes later perfect gratin.

(I'm mostly please with this because I actually remembered to take a photo of the dish when it was resting - this accompanied our holiday meal of baked cod wrapped in prosciutto).

Meat & Potatoes