Potato Gratin (pommes dauphinois): French Fridays with Dorie

For the month of November, we were given the choice of about 10 recipes and then FFWD participants got to vote on which recipes we'd try during the month.  I chose recipes that sounded autumn-ish.  Three of the four recipes that were my top choices got the top votes, so I'm definitely looking forward to the month of November's recipes.  Since it's a busy month, we get to choose the order in which we try those four recipes.  I chose Dorie's Potato Gratin for my first November recipe. 

I love potatoes ... haven't met a potato that I didn't like.  And potatoes just scream Thanksgiving.  Now, I don't know if I could possibly pull myself away from the traditional mashed potatoes for my Thanksgiving meal, but gratin would definitely be do-able for other approaching holidays ... Christmas, New Years, etc.

It seemed like I got a late start on making dinner every night this week and I kept pushing my Dorie recipe off until ... tomorrow.  So, here we are on Friday ... early afternoon and I type as my potatoes bake.

Yesterday I made a stop at Trader Joe's.  I grabbed some of their Imported from Switzerland Raw Milk Gruyere cheese.  (Their price is $10.49/lb.) It was a little more than I wanted to spend on cheese, but I've really been enjoying the Gruyere recently and wanted to try it with the potatoes.  I also had a little leftover Swiss cheese from my last Dorie recipe that included potatoes (hachis parmentier).

Today as I was pulling out my ingredients, I realized that I had enough potatoes that needed to be used to double the recipe.  I made my potato/garlic-infused-cream layers and added a little salt and pepper here & there between layers.  When I finished, I couldn't see the cream coming up to the top of the potato layers, so I added more half-and-half.  I chose to put some fresh thyme and then I put A LOT of Gruyere and Swiss cheese on top of my potatoes.  Because I had doubled the recipe, it took about 30 minutes extra (so around 75 minutes total) for my gratin to cook.  My kids kept asking me what I was baking ... we all loved the smells coming from the kitchen.

I wanted to eat the gratin with our dinner, so I planned my meal around it.  I ended up making Maryland-style crab cakes and asparagus to go with the potatoes.  It was a nice & very fattening dinner. :)  Hubby said he gives the potatoes a 7 out of 10.  I really wanted to try this recipe with mushrooms, but I forgot to pick some up at Trader Joe's, so next time.  Next time I think I'll do a bit less garlic and try it without the thyme.