Potato Caserole

I have a hard time serving potatoes. They are boring, except for my mashed potatoes, which I really wanted to stay away from on the Easter Menu. This dish seemed a good alternative.

I tried this Cook's Illustrated recipe and was rather impressed. The casserole will be enough for ten people. I am going to give the recipe it here with a link to Cook's Illustrated website because I think they put a tremendous amount of time and editorial effort into their recipes and, with SOOOO much junk on the Internet, it is one stop shopping for recipes or ideas. My suggestions and changes are noted with * before the change.

Heat oven to 375 F if you use a glass dish, 400 if not glass.

8 oz. creamy Gouda or *Swiss cheese

4 cloves of garlic minced or * 1/2 head of roasted garlic cleaned and mashed to a puree

4 tsp. minced fresh thyme * or rosemary, just use 2 tsp. instead.

2 tablespoons butter * 3 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup all purpose flour

3 1/2 cups chicken stock or canned broth* for vegetarians, veg. broth can be used.

1 bay leaf

2 lbs. Yukon Gold Potatoes peeled* I left the skins on.

2 lbs. Russet potatoes peeled* I left the skins on.

3/4 tsp. salt

Ground black pepper

1. Toss cheese and thyme * or rosemary and minced garlic (if you are not using the roasted garlic mash.)

2. Melt butter on med. heat in a med. sauce pan and whisk in the flour.

Gradually add the chicken stock.* The flavor of the stock is really the soul of this dish and I wish I had paid more attention to it and not treated it as an after thought. This is how I would do the stock about an hour or so before starting the dish:

5 cups of chicken stock if not homemade, a good brand from the store. Put it in a sauce pan and add 1/2 cup white dry wine (no sweet wines) throw in a few carrots, a celery stalk or two and 1/2 small onion . Cook it until it is reduced by about 3/4. Pick out and discard the carrot, celery and onion. If doing it my way, whisk in the roasted garlic mash now. Then add this concentrated rich broth to the butter whisking constantly over med. heat.

3. Add the bay leaf up the heat to high until it boils, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for about 2 min.s until thick.

4. Slice the potatoes 1/8 inch thick with a very sharp knife, on a mandolin, or in a food processor* I used a thin crinkle cut on a hand turned food processor and they came out great!

5. Alternating Russets and Gold slices, arrange 1/3 of the potatoes in over lapping layers sprinkle with 1/3 cheese, thyme, and minced garlic( if you are not opting for the roasted garlic.) and ladle over 1/3 or the broth and add some ground pepper. Do the same thing for a second layer and again for the third, but DO NOT use the remaining 1/3 cheese. Set it aside to add at the end of cooking.

6.. Cover with foil and bake in lower oven 45 min.s. Remove foil and bake another 45 min.s.

7. Sprinkle on the remaining cheese and cook until lightly browned. * My potatoes were curly, so I stuck them under the broiler to give them crispy tips and melt the cheese.

8. Cool 10 min.s and serve.

http://www.cooksillustrated.com/?extcode=K00GABC00