Potato Dauphinious

Potato Dauphinious is not an easy word to say…but it’s a damn tasty recipe to eat.  I love to make them as a side dish for steak dinners, but they’ll go just as well with roast chicken, pork or even fish.  Classically, potato dauphinious is a baked dish, where layered slices of potatoes, are baked along with some cream, and sometimes cheese.  Obviously, when you’re combining potatoes, cream and cheese, provided you use the right techniques, you’re going to get a heck of a dish.  A nice brown, crusty top, and tender potatoes on the inside, it’s one of my favorites.  Give it a try and let me know how you like it.

Recipe Overview and Keys to Success

1. For the best Potato Dauphinious, just make sure you do the following:
2. You want to cut the potatoes nice and thin. About an 1/8 of an inch.  You can use a mandolin, if you have one, but a knife also works
3. Don’t wash the potatoes.  That will remove the starch, which you want, so that the potatoes adhere to one another
4. The biggest issue, is the amount of cream you use.  Too much you’ve got soupy potatoes, too little, they’re dry.  In the baking dish you want the cream to cover about 4/5 of the potatoes.  It also helps to cook the potatoes in the cream for about 10 minutes, which helps thicken the cream a bit.

Potato Dauphinious

• 4 – 5 Yukon gold potatoes
• 1 pint heavy cream
• ½ cup grated gruyere cheese
• Salt and Pepper

• Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees
• Peel and slice the potatoes into 1/8 inch rounds
• Add the potatoes to a large sauce pan, along with enough cream to cover by about ¾ 
• Season with a good amount of salt and pepper…about a teaspoon each
• Bring to a simmer and cook for 8 – 12 minutes until the cream slightly thickens
• Pour the potato & cream mixture into a greased baking dish and if needed add a bit more cream to cover by 4/5
• Top with the gruyere cheese and move the pan into the oven
• Allow it to bake for 20 – 35 minutes, until the top is browned, and the potatoes are knife tender
• Remove from the oven and allow the dauphinious to rest for 15 minutes or so, to allow it set (it’s also great to eat at room temperature)
• Slice and serve

Usually I’ll serve potato dauphinious as a side dish, and pair the wine with the main course, but you can certainly have it as a light lunch or dinner with a salad.  In that case, I’d love a glass of California chardonnay.  The rich, but fairly mild flavored dauphinious, will work well with a buttery chardonnay, without either getting over powered, or taking over the potatoes.