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Potato & Turnip Gratin Dauphinoise

Seriously satisfying... and if you harbour any guilt do not attempt this dish! One of the truly great potato dishes. Layers of potato and turnip cooked in a rich garlic cream topped with a generous sprinkling of Gruyere cheese. This dish goes best with any roast, especially beef. The variety of the potatoes is very important, I find that Desirée or Belle de Fontenay are the best and both are usually available in supermarkets. The Gratin can be cooked an hour before the meal and reheated 20 minutes before required. A mandolin can help you greatly with the fine slicing required. Serves 6. From Raymond Blanc Kitchen Secrets (S2)

550g medium potatoes (desirée or Belle de fontenay)
550g large turnips
500ml whipping cream
10g/10 pinches sea salt
1g/2 pinches freshly ground black or white pepper
10g/2 cloves garlic peeled and crushed

1 Pre-heat the oven to 160°C

2 Wash & peel the potatoes and turnips. Pat dry and slice them 2mm thick on a Japanese mandolin (*1)

3 On medium heat, in a small saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer. Add the seasoning and crushed garlic and leave to infuse off the heat

4 Mix the sliced vegetables in a large gratin dish layer the sliced vegetables halfway up the dish; pour half the warm cream through a strainer over the sliced vegetables add the remaining sliced vegetables making sure you top the gratin with a layer of just potatoes as this will give you a golden caramelisation (*2)

5 Pour over the remaining sieved cream and discard the garlic. Press gently with the back of a spoon to ensure the cream is evenly distributed

6 Cover with tin foil and bake in the pre-heated over for 40 minutes

7 Remove the tin foil and continue to cook for a further 30 minutes until the top is golden brown and the vegetables are just cooked in the middle (*3)

8 Leave to cool for 5 minutes before serving

Notes

*1 Starch – We don’t wash the potatoes after we have sliced them as the starch present will bind the the layers together and also give a good caramelisation.

*2 if you leave a layer of turnips on the top they will dry out and curl up.

*3 Cooking - the gratin is cooked when the tip of a sharp knife cuts into the gratin with little resistance (you shouldn’t feel the layers)