Potato Mushroom Gratin

This Potato Gratin is so good, its simple ingredients of tender slices of Yukon potatoes, olive oil, garlic, cream, fresh Parmesan cheese, thyme, baby bella mushroom slices and salt and pepper combine to make one very tasty and satisfying dish.  It goes so well with Thanksgiving dinner or any festive feast.  If you make it be prepared for future requests for this dish!

This recipe was found In Bon Appetit December 2008 issue and is also available on Epicurious.com.  I've doubled the recipe for a big, hungry crowd,  will feed about 20.

Ingredients:
10 Tbsp olive oil, divided
5 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, cut lengthwise and sliced into 1/8 in thick slices
3 tsps  kosher salt, plus additional for mushrooms
1 1/2 tsps freshly ground black pepper, plus additional for mushrooms
2 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream, divided
2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided
12 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
24 oz fresh baby bella mushrooms, sliced thin

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Brush 2 large 13X9X2 inch glass or oval ceramic baking dishes with 2 Tbsp oil each.  Arrange 1/3 of potatoes, slightly overlapping, in dish.  Sprinkle each dish with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.  Pour 1/3 cup cream evenly over potatoes in each dish, sprinkle each dish with 1/4 cup cheese.  Repeat layering of each dish:  1/3 of potatoes - divided into the 2 dishes, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper on each dish, 1/3 cup cream over each dish, 1/4 cup cheese over each dish - - 2 more times.  Bake uncovered until potatoes are tender, adding cream by Tbsps if dry, about 45 minutes.  Remove from oven, maintaining oven temp.  Sprinkle thyme and garlic over potatoes.  Toss the mushrooms in a large bowl with 5 Tbsps oil, sprinkle them with salt and pepper.  Arrange 1/2 the mushrooms atop the gratin around each dish, slightly overlapping each mushroom.  Drizzle mushrooms on each dish with 1/4 cup cream and sprinkle with 1/4 cup cheese.  Continue to bake uncovered until mushrooms are tender and edges of potatoes are golden brown, about 20 minutes longer.

Layering the potatoes with the salt and pepper, heavy cream and freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Finished cooking potato cream mixture until tender, now sprinkling with thyme and garlic and arranging mushrooms around the dishes. Then sprinkle mushrooms with heavy cream and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, bake till mushrooms are tender and edges of potatoes are golden brown 

 

Enjoy!