Potatoes au Gratin

I have been dreaming a lot recently.  For a few nights, I dreamt about how to cut the boys’ hair.  On the second night, I cut a little too close to Travis’ scalp.  The very next day on television, Anderson Cooper admitted and displayed his hair cutting snafu (and it was eerily similar to my dream).  I also dreamt that I was in a job interview at Microsoft.  It was a panel of 3 interviewers.  They said “we are looking for someone who is organized, detailed, and can keep us on track to meet deadlines.”  To which I replied “that’s me!  I’m the perfect nag – just ask my kids.”  Crickets.  Blank stares.  The silence was deafening.  So I filled the silence by explaining my attempt at a joke.  I could pay a lot of money trying to figure out what any of these mean.

This week’s food delivery included another 15 pound bag of potatoes from Costco and no Tate’s cookies from Tom Thumb so TBM will feature a Ree Drummond au gratin recipe and not an icebox cake.  

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon butter, softened
• 3 large russet potatoes, scrubbed clean
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/8 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup grated sharp cheddar

Preheat the oven to 400. Butter a mid-sized baking dish (e.g., 2.2 qt or 7x11) with the butter.  

Scrub and peel the potatoes.  Cut the potatoes into a small dice/cubes.  Par boil the potatoes for 10-15 minutes to soften the potatoes.  Drain the water.

Combine the cream and milk in a bowl. Add the flour, salt and some pepper. Whisk it together well so that the flour is incorporated into the milk/cream mixture. Add the diced potatoes to the prepared baking dish and pour the creamy mixture all over the top.  

Cover the dish with foil and bake for 20 to 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake 15 to 20 minutes more. Just before serving, sprinkle on the grated cheese and return it to the oven until the cheese is melted and bubbly, 3 to 5 minutes.