Au Gratin Potatoes

A Nice Potatoes Au Gratin Serving!

Au Gratin Potatoes! This is an old family recipe that is now being requested by our Grandchildren. This is a freestyle recipe so you can adjust the ingredient quantities depending on the size of the glass baking dish you use and how many people you are attempting to feed. This is a layered recipe so you can adjust the number of layers, again depending on how deep your glass baking dish happens to be. We would suggest cooking at lease one medium to large potato for each person. We will add photos to the blog as we get them.

Basic Potato Au Gratin Ingredients

Ingredients:
Olive oil, vegetable oil or butter – to grease the bottom of the pan.
Whole potatoes – sliced about as thinly as you can get. Any type of potato will do (Red, Russet, Yukon Gold, etc.) We prefer red. The potatoes can be peeled or not, but generally we peel the potatoes.
Onions – diced (any kind)
Crackers crushed – Ritz or Saltine
Cheddar Cheese grated – We prefer extra sharp cheddar (We grate the block of cheese ourselves for freshness)
Milk (Whole, 2%, 1%, Skim, Half-n-half doesn’t matter)
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Putting together the first layer.
1) Grease the bottom of the pan
2) On the bottom of the pan lay 3-4 layers of the sliced potatoes.
3) Next add a thin layer of diced onions.
4) Add a layer of grated cheddar cheese thin enough so you can see through the layer.
5) Add a layer of crushed crackers
6) Add salt and pepper (a little with each layer)

Now that you have completed one layer, you just need to repeat 3-4 layers or more until your pan is at least half way full. When you are finished with your layers, add enough milk so that it submerges at least 1/3 of the bottom layers. The milk adds moisture and creaminess to the potatoes. Add the milk slowly in dribbles all over the top so that the cheese and crackers meld together, which will form a nice crust.

Looks Delicious!

Bake at 325 degrees for about 2 hours. It takes a while for the potatoes in the middle to get done. You can test with a fork in the middle to see if it is done. The fork should go through the potatoes without any resistance.