Potatoes au Gratin

For Christmas, we were invited to my brother and his wife's home and my sister-in-law asked me to bring a potato dish to pass -- no problem!

Instead of going the safe route with some mashed potatoes - I thought it would be a perfect time to try something new! (Looking back, 18 people would have been upset if it didn't go well, but thankfully it was delicious!)

To start, I scrubbed about 8 large potatoes worth of small, medium, and large potatoes. This will serve 16-18 people, so you can adjust the amount to how many mouths you're feeding.

I peeled the potatoes and diced them into 1/2 inch cubes. 

(Tip: My mother taught me to soak the potatoes in water while your peeling and cutting them all up to prevent them from turning brown/rust colored.)

In a large bowl, I added 3 cups of heavy whopping cream.

I then added 1 cup of whole milk.

I sprinkled in 1/4 cup of flour...

... 2 tsp salt...

... and a whole lotta pepper. My usual rule when it comes to pepper is to add 1/2 of the amount of salt (In this case, 1 tsp).

This is an optional ingredients, but I'm a fan of garlic, so I grabbed 2 cloves of elephant garlic.

We get out elephant garlic "imported" from Will's Papa in Alabama. It is much larger than the garlic people are used to using and it is much milder in flavor. You can pick it up a most grocery stores. 

If you would like to use regular garlic, go ahead and add 2-4 cloves.

I minced the garlic and threw it in the cream mix. I whisked the cream until most if the flour was incorporated.

I grabbed my largest casserole dish (a 9x13 should work just fine) and buttered the inside with 2 tbsp of butter.

I added the taters...

... And poured the cream right over it.

I covered the casserole dish with aluminum foil and baked it in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes. Then I uncovered the potatoes and put them back in the oven for 20 minutes.

After transporting the potatoes to the party location, I added about 1 1/2 cups of shredded sharp cheddar. (I shredded it with my food processor at home. It's cheaper than buying it pre-shredded and I think it melts beautifully).

After 10 minutes in a warm oven, it came out perfect. I sprinkled some chopped green onions over the top before serving!

They were creamy and delicious! Definitely making them again :)

>> If you end up making this for dinner, tag me in an Instagram post -- @marriedtodavis or #marriedtodavis