Creamy Potatoes Au Gratin

photo credit by happy foods tube

Ingredients

•     2 pounds Potatoes (1kg)
•     1 tsp Salt
•     ¼ tsp Black Pepper
•     1 cup Heavy Cream (280ml)
•     ½ cup Milk (120ml)
•     4 Garlic Cloves
•     5 ounces Grated Cheddar (150g)

Optional:

•     Fresh Parsley for garnish

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C.
2. Wash, peel and thinly slice the potatoes. Place them into a large mixing bowl. Season them with salt and pepper and toss them several times. Make sure the seasoning is evenly distributed.
3. Transfer them into an oven-proof dish.
4. In a soup bowl/large mug combine the cream and milk. Add crushed garlic and stir well. Pour this over the potatoes. Use your hands or a wooden spoon to move the potatoes around. You want to make sure that they are all coated with the cream mixture.
5. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake at 400°F/200°C for 1 hour. After one hour, remove the foil carefully and top the potatoes with grated cheese. Bake for a further 20 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked through and the cheese has melted.
6. Let it cool slightly before serving.

Recipe Notes

1. 1 cup heavy cream is 10 fluid ounces.
2. I used a rectangular oven proof dish with the dimensions of 9 x 7 inch (23 x 18 cm). This dish should be 3 inch (7 cm) deep. You can also use an oven proof dish that is shallower than this but to hold the amount stated in this recipe it will have to be larger in size.
3. To reduce the baking time you can also par-boil the sliced potatoes before placing them in the oven proof dish. Par-boiling means partially cooking. In this case it takes about 5 minutes.
4. The cream sauce will set as the potatoes cool down.
5. The thinner the potato slices the quicker they will bake.
6. Instead of white cheddar you can use red cheddar, parmesan or gruyere.
7. These potatoes au gratin can be made ahead. They reheat well in the microwave.