Thursday, August 9, 2007

Easy Cheesy Potatoes – If you think the name is bad, wait until you see the video quality!

Warning: this is a clip from last year, shot with my web cam, and was never posted here with the other “bad old” clips due to audio problems. I had a few fans of my original blog asking for it (demanding to be more accurate), so I simply did a new voiceover and decided to post it as is.

This video’s horrible production value (I almost called this post “The Blair Witch Potato”) is more than made up for in that this really is a great recipe and technique. I really love potato gratins, but the thing I don’t enjoy, especially when I’m in a hurry is the slicing and layering. This video recipe shows you a shortcut method to achieve a very similar final product with much less work. You’ll have to watch to see how this is achieved since I don’t want to spoil the suspense and tension of the clip (unlike “Blair Witch” which we all knew was staged, and there weren’t really any ghosts).

You can use any cheese in this dish, of course, but I think a nice sharp cheddar is the way to go. I used a beautiful hunk of English Farmhouse Cheddar and it was great. Especially with the apple and shallot reduction that went over the pork loin I served with these potatoes. Also, I used low fat 1% milk for this dish. I would resist the temptation to use cream in this, as I think it makes it this recipe too rich. Enjoy!



Ingredients:

6 russet potatoes
2 cups milk
3 green onions
6 oz. cheddar cheese
4 tbl butter
salt and pepper to taste

*Bake at 400F until golden brown, about 20-30 minutes

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

lol @ "Blair Witch Potato" Thats a blast from the past! I was actually scared and I knew it was fake. Funny reference, and these potatoes look luscious.

Anonymous said...

Mmmm...looks yummy. Actually while watching this I was eating some potato chips. And I was thinking what the hell am I doing? I gotta have that Potato Gratin! So I'm gonna make it sometime this week!

Chef John said...

Good, at least one person gets the reference! The camera was shaking so much in that movie I got motion sickness. thanks.

hkfreak said...

Back when you had the cayenne obsession...you could ujst move the old vid and to the new program, delete all those graphics, then rewrite it. Or...you could just do the stuff all over again.

Chef John said...

the old webcam was so low res that the new software wouldnt make a real difference. BTW i still have a cayenne obsession!

Tyler Hinkle said...

Finally! ^_^

Anonymous said...

About how many people do you think this would serve? (I'm cooking for 3...lol)

Chef John said...

6 to 8, or 3.

Anonymous said...

I made this for dinner tonight with a beautiful steak, and it was awesome. I love how easy most of your recipes are, but so delicious at the same time. Thanks chef John!

Chef John said...

You're welcome. Feel free to send pictures of these recipes you make. I've been thinking of having a page of viewer submitted recipes they've made off the blog.

Connie T. said...

I am going to make this tonight. I remembered you made this and had to search hard for it on your blog. How do I send you a picture of it?

Chef John said...

connie, just attach a .jpg file to an email to foodwishes@yahoo.com

thanks!

Anonymous said...

ALERT! Video not viewable. Hopefully, some action might be called for.

Chef John said...

i just watched it, seems to be fine.

Henry said...

How long should I boil the potatoes?

Chef John said...

like I said in the video, "til tender" hard to give an exact time, around 20 minutes?

Anonymous said...

Hi Chef, just discovered your blog (well, a few weeks ago) and this is the second recipe i used with success...single guy here, with 2 sons visiting on the weekends...the videos are so helpfull...:)

Jer said...

Similar to my layered potatoes except mine take forever to cook, the precook will do the trick for sure! I also lay thick cut pork chops on top and yummmmmm! (pork chops only need about an hour of cook time)
Thanks for your recipes and videos. I'm adicted to cooking videos.

Jer said...

Oh and I forgot, you drizzled the milk carefully because that is how cooks add in the love. And "the love" is definitely tasted.

Anonymous said...

That looks great, John. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

yummmmm

Gretchen in NOLA said...

I wonder how this would be with some cauliflower thrown in? Maybe roasted cauliflower??

Gretchen in NOLA said...

Wow! Thank you, Chef John, for giving me a little cooking cred! I've done three of your recipes so far,and they came out so much better than just following a recipe. Guess I'm a "visual" person. Hubby is from the midwest and a tater guy, and I've always had problems coming up with new ways to cook them. He LOVED this. Served it with a roast chicken and roasted cauliflower. I LOVE YOU!! (Hubby approves of that last comment)

mysweetharmony said...

Would this be appropriate for a Thanksgiving side dish? I'm tired of mashed potatoes.

Steve Kennedy said...

You should recycle this recipe. It is foolproof (speaking from experience) and so tasty. It is easy to reduce it for two, and easy to increase it for 6. It also cooks in the background. You can have this in the oven while you have to deal with things going fast on the burners. If it gets done early, you can nuke it to warm it up, without loosing flavor. It is almost as good as your corn custard side dish, but much less time consuming.

Sally said...

You know, I'd ask you to re-do this video, but - why? It's perfect just the way it is! Talk about simple! It's so simple, I'm surprised I never thought of it ('cause basically, I'm a lazy cook). THANK YOU so much for this idea. I'm doing this tomorrow with the left-over Easter Ham (of yours, of course) that was totally awesome. Thank you so much, Chef! (Hmmmm...I wonder if Allrecipes has THIS one posted?...)