"Potatoes All Rotten?"

Shortly after we had risen from sleep last Saturday morning, Zach turned to me with a mischievous expression and asked: "Can we have potatoes all rotten for dinner tonight?"

"I beg your pardon, Darlin'? Potatoes what?"

It took me a moment's contemplation while Zach tried not to laugh at his own pun before I realized that he was jestingly referring to potatoes au gratin...

Zach is always such an undemanding partner in the kitchen and in life in general, so whenever he actually requests a particular recipe I get very excited. As we puttered about our leisurely rainy-day Saturday activities, I willingly devoted a constant portion of brain power to the happy contemplation of just how to compose the potatoes au gratin that night - lighter than the cream-laden version my grandmother taught me to prepare so many years ago, certainly, but still fairly decadent, as, after all, the fact that this was a requested recipe made it a bit of an occasion all in itself.

I still remember the day my grandmother taught me her potatoes au gratin recipe, marked vividly in my mind as a sort of familial right of passage, almost as serious and humbling as learning to make a true, flaky, Southern pie crust. Hours were devoted to the effort, largely consumed with the goal of slicing perfectly textbook-identicle 1/16" slices of potato, by hand, armed only with a chef's knife and a 10-year old's unflinching concentration. Again and again my grandmother gently, patiently chided me - "no no dear, that one's too thick, it'll take too long to cook, oh no, now that one's too thin, it's falling apart..."

Perhaps this is why I never made potatoes au gratin again.

Fortuitously, I am now blessed with a handy slicer-grater attachment for our KitchenAid stand mixer, which remains my favorite adult toy of all time - being able to possess and use one's own KitchenAid is entirely worth the stress of paying taxes and a mortgage, in my opinion.

Thus armed, flawless potato slices appeared in a mere matter of minutes, and only a few minutes later, the casserole was in the oven and I was dashing in and out of the kitchen with a level of enthusiasm usually only reserved for the hour following coffee consumption, peering through the oven door with the aid of the cheery little oven lamp and imploring Zach to "look at the potatoes! Look at the potatoes! They're bubbling!" Zach, ever patient as he is, and also possessing an equally vested interest in the potatoes, zoomed in and out of the kitchen with me, as we watched the creaming potatoes and melting, bubbling cheese with equal quantities of delight and awe...

Oh, there is something magical about the simple combination of potatoes, milk, and really amazing cheese. Potatoes au gratin is indeed something reverent after all. I suppose my grandmother, of course, lovingly slicing those potatoes in search of casserole perfection, knew this all along... It just took me a few more decades to find it too.

Potatoes au Gratin

Olive oil cooking spray
Garlic powder
2 1/2 cups whole milk
2 T minced green onion
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, thinly sliced
4 oz Gruyere cheese, grated
1/2 cup grated Parmesan

~ Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Coat a 9X11" baking dish with the cooking spray, and then dust the bottom of the dish with garlic powder.
~ Stir together the milk, green onion, salt, and pepper in a large skillet. Add the sliced potatoes, bring the mixture to a simmer, and simmer gently, with the skillet covered, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are just almost tender - approx. 10 minutes.
~ Turn off the heat, and stir half of the Gruyere cheese and half of the Parmesan cheese into the potato mixture until the cheese are melted.
~ Pour the potato mixture into the baking dish. Sprinkle the remaining Gruyere cheese and Parmesan cheese on top of the potato mixture.
~ Bake for 35 minutes - until golden brown and bubbling!