Stovetop Scalloped Potatoes

A very quick hot dish, it's full of creamy starchiness. And you only need one stovetop element while making something else to go with. As a main dish, accompany with a pilaf.

3 Tbsps. butter (1½ oz/42gr)

1 small onion, chopped (4oz/115g)

4 medium potatoes, sliced thin (1lb 12oz or 800 grams)

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 cup milk

1 cup grated sharp cheddar (4 oz/115g) (Old English very good)

OPTIONAL - 1 - 2 tsps minced herbs (chives or thyme or rosemary)

1. In a sauté pan, fry the onion in butter until they are lightly browned and soft. 
2. Add the potatoes, salt and milk. 
3. Cover and cook slowly, approximately 20 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. 
4. Remove cover and sprinkle with cheese. Stir in very gently. Serve at once. 

Stovetop Scalloped Potatoes "Gratin" with White Wine sauce

Sometimes you want scalloped potatoes and you don't have an oven. You can make this version on a hot plate and enjoy the creamy, cheesy potatoes. It's a bit fancy because instead of only dairy, the sauce is also made with white wine for a depth of flavor that really sets off the browning of the onions.

As a Side Dish for 6-8 people

2 Tbsps (1oz/28gr) butter

1 large onion, chopped

1 lb 8 oz potatoes, thinly sliced

1 tsp salt and pepper to taste

pinch nutmeg or 1 tsp minced fresh thyme

¾ cup heavy cream

¾ cup white wine

2 oz shredded Gruyère cheese

1. Sauté the onion in butter until well browned and soft. 
2. Add the potatoes, salt, spice of choice and wine. 
3. Cook for a couple of minutes or until the wine starts to thicken from the potato starch and has loosened up all the browned bits from the bottom. You may have to scrape the bottom with a wooden spoon to get the yummy browning to move.
4. Add the cream and mix through. 
5. Cover and cook slowly, approximately 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. 
6. Remove the cover and sprinkle with cheese. Stir in very gently. 
7. OPTIONAL : place under a broiler until the top starts to brown.

As a Main Dish for 4 people (with bread and salad)

2 Tbsps (1oz/28gr) butter

1 large onion, chopped

2 lbs potatoes, thinly sliced

1¼ tsp each of salt and pepper, to taste

pinch nutmeg or 1 tsp minced fresh thyme

1 cup heavy cream 

1 cup white wine

3 oz shredded Gruyère cheese

1. Sauté the onion in butter until well browned and soft. 
2. Add the potatoes, salt, spice of choice and wine. 
3. Cook for a couple of minutes or until the wine starts to thicken from the potato starch and has loosened up all the browned bits from the bottom. You may have to scrape the bottom with a wooden spoon to get the yummy browning to move.
4. Add the cream and mix through. 
5. Cover and cook slowly, approximately 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. 
6. Remove the cover and sprinkle with cheese. Stir in very gently. 
7. OPTIONAL : place under a broiler until the top starts to brown.

Blue cheese Potatoes au Gratin

I suppose any blue cheese would do for this recipe, but the Cambozola makes for a lovely, savory-sweet dish. It is a high-octane recipe in terms of fat, given the high fat content of the cheese, but this is what creates the amazing mouth feel that makes every morsel so appealing.

4  potatoes (1lb 8oz), sliced thinly

3 garlic cloves, minced

3  Tbsps (42gr) butter

3  Tbsps flour

1½  cups milk

1  tsp. salt

1 Tbsp fresh thyme, minced  (or 2 tsps dried)

100gr Cambozola cheese, grated

1. Place the oven rack in the middle position. Pre-heat to 350°F.
2. In a small sauce pan, melt the butter and sauté the garlic until starting to colour.
3. With a whisk blend in the flour and cook until it turns pale golden and you've roasted out the floury flavor.
4. Add all the milk stirring constantly with the whisk to break up clods of flour, and season with salt, pepper and thyme.
5. Simmer gently, stirring occasionally with the whisk, until the sauce thickens.
6. Remove from heat and stir in the cheese.
7. Place a quarter of the sliced potatoes in a one quart casserole dish or if you have an attractive oven-ready fry pan, it'll create a lovely rustic display and you only have to dirty one pan to make the dish! Alternate in quarters the first the potatoes and then the cheese sauce until you end with the last of the cheese sauce on top.
8. Bake uncovered for about 1hr + or until the potatoes are soft and a nice golden crust forms on top.

Bette à carde gratiné (Swiss Chard Gratin)

2 bunches chard leaves, chopped (about 8 cups packed or 2lbs)
1 cup water
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 Tbsp (½ oz/14gr) butter
1½ cups milk
3 Tbsps flour
1 Tbsp + 2 tsps wholegrain mustard 
1½ cups grated Gruyère (6.3oz/180g)
Sea salt and black pepper
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese (0.8oz/22.5g)
2 to 3 Tbsps bread crumbs

SERVE WITH
Crusty bread

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. 
2. Bring a  saucepan of salted water to boil. 
3. Thinly slice the reserved chard stems, add them to the water, and cook for 2 minutes. Add the leaves and continue cooking until tender, about 3 to 4 minutes longer. 
4. Drain and allow to cool, then gently squeeze out the excess liquid and coarsely chop.
5. In a large pan heat oil and butter over medium heat. When butter has melted, whisk in the flour until blended and whisk until the flour cooks, or starts to brown. 
6. Slowly whisk in the milk. Continue cooking and stirring until the sauce thickens, 3 to 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and stir in the mustard and the Gruyère. 
7. Stir in the cooked chard and transfer to a buttered gratin dish. 
8. Sprinkle with the Parmesan and breadcrumbs. 
9. Bake for 20 minutes or until hot and bubbling. 
10. Put under the broiler to get the top brown and crispy.
11. Put the hot potatoes onto a plate and spoon the gratin over them.
12. Serve immediately.

Pâtissons Gratinée (summer squash au gratin)

The best way to make this dish delicious is to treat it like art. No, really. Arranging the tomato and summer squash slices in a regular pattern actually influences not only the visual experience of the dish, but also how the flavors and textures mix. When I serve it, people assume that there are only 3 ingredients. Somehow, although the cheese and the onion and garlic are intrinsic to the flavour, it's the thyme, tomato and squash that always stand out. With some nice fresh bread, this makes for a filling late summer meal.

2 + 3 Tbsps olive oil

2 medium onions (14 oz total), thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

24oz ripe red tomatoes, cored and cut into ¼" slices

12oz (about 2 small) green patty pan squash or other green summer squash, cut into ¼" slices on the bias

12oz (about 2 small) yellow patty pan squash, yellow summer squash or golden zucchini, cut into ¼" slices on the bias

¼ cup fresh thyme leaves (loosely packed)

1 tsp coarse salt

1¼ cups (2.5oz/70g) freshly grated parmigiano reggiano

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Sauté the onions in the oil over medium heat, stirring constantly, until golden (about 20 minutes). Add the garlic and sauté 1 to 2 minutes.
2. Spread the onions and garlic evenly in the bottom of an oiled 2 qt shallow gratin dish.
3. Heat the oven to 375°F. 
4. Put the tomato slices on a shallow plate to drain for a few minutes and then discard any collected juices. 
5. In a bowl toss the zucchini and squash slices with the second batch of olive oil, the thyme and the salt. 
6. Reserve half of the cheese for the top of the gratin. 
7. Starting at one end of the baking dish, lay a row of slightly overlapping tomato slices across the width of the dish and sprinkle with a little of the cheese, then lay a row of zucchini overlapping the tomatoes, sprinkle with cheese. Repeat, until the dish is full.
8. Season lightly with pepper. Drizzle with some more olive oil and sprinkle over the reserved cheese. 
9. Cook until well-browned all over and the juices have bubbled for a while and reduced considerably, 65 to 70 minutes. Let cool for at least 15 min. before serving.

Gratin Italian sausage and kale

I love teasing people about kale. It's the new kid on the block and folks are still discovering it and getting that shiny new convert look when you tell them it's survival food (ie. people eat it when there's nothing left to eat). The truth is that 1) I like kale just fine and 2) it is not new food. It's been around for a long, long time because it's so hardy and reliable. Cook it right, and it's a sweet treat. But it does have a very strong flavor and not everyone is a fan, so if you want to serve kale to a finnicky table, match it with equally strong flavors. This dish is a cheesy saucy gooey warming dish with a lovely crunchy topping.

Some olive oil

1 lb fresh mild or hot Italian sausage, casings removed and crumbled

⅓ cup dry white wine

2 bunches (about 1 pound) kale, stemmed and torn into large pieces

½ cup (4oz/114gr) + 3 Tbsps (1.5oz/42gr) butter, melted

⅓ cup flour

2 cups milk

8oz fresh goat cheese or feta

3oz freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

1 cup fresh bread crumbs

1 Tbsp minced fresh herbs (such as a combination of parsley, oregano and basil)

1. Heat the oven to 350°F degrees.
2. In a large stainless steel sauté pan, heat the oil and cook the sausage, breaking it up. Cook until browned (usually when the moisture has evaporated). Remove any excess fat.
3. Add the wine scraping up the fond. Continue to cook until the wine reduces and is mostly evaporated, 1 to 2 minutes. 
4. Decrease the heat and stir in the kale, one handful at a time. Mix in the kale and cook until it begins to wilt and turn a bright green. Don't worry about overcooking the kale; it is impossible, unless you burn it! Remove from heat and set the pan aside.
5. Meanwhile, dump the bread crumbs in a medium sized bowl.
6. Melt all the butter in a saucepan. When melted, put 3 Tbsps of it into the breadcrumb bowl.
7. Into the remaining butter, whisk in the flour; continue wisking until starting to brown. Add the milk, whisking constantly, until it thickens into a sauce.
8. Add the crumbled goat cheese to the roux and continue to whisk until the cheese is melted and the sauce is smooth.
9. Pour the sauce into the sausage and kale and let sit 5 minutes to allow any more fond to lift. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon to scrape up the fond and mix the sauce evenly in the sausage and kale.
10. Spoon the mixture into a shallow, 2 quart gratin dish.
11. To the breadcrumb and butter, add parmesan and minced fresh herbs. Mix thoroughly, then evenly distribute over the kale and sausage to form the topping.
12. Bake the gratin until the topping is golden-brown and the filling is bubbly, about 30 minutes (briefly broil at this point if not browned enough).
13. Cool slightly before serving with crusty bread if eating as a main dish.

Pesto Mac and Cheese

Some may feel that toying with a classic is aberrant, but I think this tastes pretty darned good! You can also omit the pesto just for a regular old tasty mac&cheese.

8oz (225g) dry chunky pasta like macaroni, fusilli, etc
2 (1oz/28gr) + 2 (1oz/28gr) Tbsps butter
¾ cups (75g) panko breadcrumbs
1 small onion (4oz/115g)
1 Tbsp flour
¼ tsp dry mustard
⅛ tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1½ cups milk
1 cup (about 2.5 oz) grated sharp cheddar
1 cup (about 2.5 oz) grated gruyère cheese
Optional 1.5 oz chèvre cheese
2 Tbsps to ¼ cup pesto

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Boil the pasta in some salted water until just al dente; tender but firm (it will cook more when baking, and mushy pasta isn't great).
3. Meanwhile, in a hot pan, melt 2 Tbsps of the butter and mix in the breadcrumbs, stirring until evenly combined, and set aside.
4. Melt the remaining 2 Tbsps of butter and cook the onion until perfectly tender, about 5 minutes.
5. Blend in the flour, mustard, pepper and salt.
6. Stir in the milk and whisk until it thickens into a sauce. 
7. Remove for the heat source and stir in the cheese until well combined.
8. Add the pesto and combine, followed by the pasta. Mix until the pasta is uniformly covered.
9. Pour the pasta into the baking dish and sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the surface.
10. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until the sauce is bubbling and the top is toasted and golden.

Célerie gratiné

Celery isn't one of my go-to vegetables. I usually only need a stalk or two and then it sits in refrigerator until it turns into a putrid liquid. Not really. Well, maybe once. Anyway, this recipe is a great way of using up the rest of the celery before it transforms into compost.

1 bunch celery (1lb to 1lb 8oz), including leaves, chopped
1½ tsp salt
2 Tbsps (1oz/28gr) butter
2 Tbsps flour
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp pepper
2 cups milk
½ cup breadcrumbs (55g)
¼ cup (¾ oz/20gr) Gruyère cheese

¼ cup chopped chives or 3 chopped scallions (45 to 60g)
2 Tbsps chopped parsley

1. In a skillet combine the celery and salt. Add water just enough to cover. Bring to a boil and then simmer, uncovered, until the liquid is completely gone. The celery should be  totally cooked. Dump into a plate and set aside.
2. In the hot skillet, melt the butter and sprinkle in the flour, nutmeg and pepper, whisking until it starts to turn brown. Add the milk and whisk until it's smooth, then add the celery and cook until the sauce becomes creamy and thick. Taste and season with salt.
3. In a bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, cheese, chives and parsley. At this point, either leave the celery mix in the skillet or dump it into a gratin dish or casserole. Sprinkle the cheesy breadcrumbs on top.
4. Set the oven to broil. Put the dish in the oven and broil until the top is golden.