Hasselback Au Gratin Potatoes | Recipeish | Gustus Vitae

Hasselback Au Gratin Potatoes | Recipeish | Gustus Vitae

by Frankie Scanlon
  • Yield: Serves 4.
  • Time: About 2 hours, including 1.5 hours unattended.
  • Storage Notes: Best if enjoyed immediately.
  • Difficulty: Easy, but careful with that mandoline. 

Full credit to the good people at Serious Eats for the inspiration behind this dish, one of our most favorite ways to enjoy potatoes. We've tweaked to make this a little easier to create with ingredients more commonly found around the house, and, you know us, we upped the flavor with some delicious seasoning to start and finish.

Please - do yourself and those you love a favor and make this dish.

We're a while away from swimsuit season yet, so let's make the most of it.

 

Ingredients

  • 6 large russet potatoes
  • 1 medium (8oz) bag shredded Mexican cheese blend
  • 1 and a half full tins All Purpose Umami Seasoning
  • 1 large container heavy whipping cream
  • 4-5 oz shredded Parmesan cheese
Directions
  • Peel potatoes, then carefully as you can, slice thinly sideways with a mandoline. Don't worry if they're uneven widths - that's a good thing.
  • Place all slices in a big colander, and give em a good rise, turning over repeatedly as you do with your hands. You want to remove as much starch as possible, and now's the time to do it.
  • Dump potatoes on some paper towels to get off excess moisture, and get to work on your sauce.
  • In the largest bowl you have, combine the full tin of All Purpose Umami, Mexican cheese blend, and all of the heavy cream, and give it a couple of good stirs to combine.
  • Preheat your oven to 420F.
  • Add in all the potato slices, and using your hands, toss and mix repeatidly to combine. Make sure if there are slices sticking to each other that haven't touched the sauce that you separate. This will take a couple minutes.
  • Rinse your hands, and select a casserole dish or similar - we're partial to a fish baking dish as it leaves a lot of the top of the potatoes exposed and gets them extra crispy.
  • Working in small batches, and from the outside in, begin stacking the potatoes around the baking dish. It's hard to guesstimate this right - don't worry if you have too many and have to sacrifice some. If you're a little short for the middle, just laying a few flat is OK. The important thing is there's an unbroken ring around the sides.
  • Pour over all of the remaining sauce, as evenly as you can. It'll all settle out during the baking process, but if you see any uncovered bits, make sure to coat them.
  • Cover with tinfoil, as snugly as you can, and pop in the oven for 30 minutes.
  • Remove, peel off tinfoil, and pop back in for another 30.
  • Remove again. This is where it's starting to look good. Dust all sides with shredded Parmesan, resist the urge to eat it now, and pop back in, again for 30 minutes.
  • Remove, sprinkle the half tin of All Purpose Umami evenly over the entirety of the surface, and allow to cool and slightly solidify for 5 minutes.
  • Serve, devour, come back for seconds, come back for thirds, nap. This is the way. 
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