Scalloped potatoes

This is the only scalloped potatoes recipe you’ll ever need. The potatoes begin cooking directly in the sauce, meaning less oven time and perfectly cooked through creamy potatoes. Layers of cheese add even more flavour, then baked to golden perfection with a crispy cheese top. Perfection!

Ingredients

1.50 kg potatoes, peeled

1 tbsp butter or margarine, for greasing

1 tsp garlic powder

2 cups heavy cream

2 cups full cream milk

2 tbsp dried thyme

½ tsp nutmeg

150 g gruyere cheese, grated

1.50 cups tasty cheese, grated

1 tsp each salt and pepper

Ingredients

3 lbs potatoes, peeled

1 tbsp butter or margarine, for greasing

1 tsp garlic powder

2 cups heavy cream

2 cups full cream milk

2 tbsp dried thyme

½ tsp nutmeg

5 oz gruyere cheese, grated

1.50 cups tasty cheese, grated

1 tsp each salt and pepper

Ingredients note

I recommend heavy cream and full cream milk in this dish. I usually opt for light versions when I can, but these are the main flavours in the dish and there’s really no lightening the calories in scalloped potatoes (so you may as well just enjoy the best version!).
If you can’t find gruyere, subsitute with another nutty cheese such as grana padano or parmesan.

Serving suggestions

Scalloped potatoes are a great side dish to traditional pub fare or comfort food. My favourite pairings are:

Steak
Chicken parmigiana
Braised beef brisket in red wine sauce

Directions

Prepare the potatoes

1. Grab a large pot and add: milk, cream, garlic powder, thyme, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Put it on medium heat and bring to a simmer (watch it closely so it doesn’t boil over).

Tip: The longer the milk and cream mixture sit with the herbs and garlic powder, the more the flavours will infuse.

2. Meanwhile, cut the potatoes into very thin slices, about 2mm / 0.1 inch thick. The easiest way to do this is to use a mandolin slicer.

3. Once the cream and milk mixture is simmering, add the potatoes and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Bake the potatoes

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F, and grease a 7-8 cup capacity baking dish with butter.

2. Use a large spoon to transfer about 1/4 to 1/3 of the potatoes and sauce to the baking dish, then top with 1/3 of the tasty cheese.

3. Keep adding layers of potatoes and tasty cheese, until the baking dish is full or all the potatoes and sauce have been transferred. Top the final layer with all of the gruyere cheese.

4. Cover the dish with foil – if the dish is full to the top, add some toothpicks to the centre of the dish (poke them right through the potatoes) so that the foil doesn’t touch the cheese.

5. Bake for 40 minutes, then remove the foil (and toothpicks) and bake or grill until the top layer of cheese is golden brown.

6. Leave to rest for at least 15 minutes (it’ll be scalding hot!), and top with additional thyme leaves and salt flakes.

Tip: Scalloped potatoes taste just as good, maybe even better, reheated the next day!

Wine pairing

Although scalloped potatoes are delicious enough to eat on their own (and I have been known to eat them straight from the baking dish!), it’s a better idea to pair the wine with the main course.

If the scalloped potatoes are the main course – go for a rich buttery white to amplify the creaminess, such as an oaked Chardonnay.