Au Gratin

I made these to go with the ham. They're really simple, and delicious. I mean what's not to like? cheese, potatoes, toasted bread, sounds like a plan.

I must admit that I've never done au gratin before. I've dabbled with scalloped, and have a wonder version that uses herbs de provence... but that's for another post. I just sort of scavenged around the intarwebs looking for trends in au gratin recipes and took what I liked from each one, and made this recipe. I admit I used cheddar cheese soup from a can, instead of making my own cream of cheddar, but I figure it still turned out edible, so no complaining.

Au Gratin Potatos

3 lbs Potatoes, peeled, and sliced 1/8-1/4 inches thin (i used russet)

1 smal onion, halfed and sliced (think half-moon slices)

2 10.5 oz Cans Cheddar Cheese Soup

10.5 oz cream

10.5 oz milk

1 cup of Cheddar Cheese, shredded

2 slices bread

parsley

paprika

salt

white pepper

Oven preheated to 350 F.

Begin by making the bread crumb topping, by putting the bread slices and parsley in a food processor and pulsing until coase crumbs. set aside

Whisk the cheddar cheese soup with the cream and milk until smooth. You needn't heat it, as it will all be going in the oven anyhow.

Begin by layering a 9x13 pan with a 1/4 of the sliced potatoes (we'll make 4 layers), followed by a 1/4 of the onions. salt and pepper the layer, and then repeat for the second layer. On the second layer, sprinkle half the cheese, and then add half the cheese soup. Repeat layering again with third layer, then a fourth, followed by cheese, and cheese soup. Sprinkle a little paprika over the whole thing and put in oven uncovered for roughly 50-60 min (until the cheese starts to brown up). After the hour cooking, sprinkle the bread crumb mixture over the whole thing and bake another 10 min until crumbs toast.

Let sit 10 min before serving.