Sometimes, you just shouldn't mess with the classics. That's how I felt about my Potato Gratin for French Fridays with Dorie this week. Potato Gratin is simply layers of thinly sliced potato with cream and salt and pepper between the layers, and cheese on top.
In Bon Idee, Dorie suggests that you can personalise your gratin with different cheeses and by substituting in some sweet potato and, among other things, broccoli. I thought that this was a great idea, because it made the gratin a meal in itself. It worked OK, although it was not as pretty as using just potatoes:
However, there was just not enough kick in this dish to excite me. Admittedly, I did not use the optional herbs, as woody pieces of rosemary in the layers did not appeal to me, but perhaps I should have sprinkled on dried herbs and just used potatoes. I also used "light" cream and low fat cheese - perhaps the extra fat would have helped. Sadly, I found my version of this dish to be rather bland.
You can check out what all the other FFwD members made this week by visiting this week's LYL section at the FFwD website.
Postscript - I salted my gratin up a little more and found it got better as time went on. I still don't think it will be on regular rotation at my place, but maturity and seasoning gave it greater depth than it originally had.
12 comments:
I agree. While I only added some herbage to the dish, I don't think I would have enjoyed any veggies mixed in. Though, I do like how pretty the green and orange pop through in your gratin!
Looks so so creamy delicious. Indee a real classic.
I'm sorry to hear it was a bit bland. Salt makes everything better :)
I think it looks really good with the broccoli! I've been slacking on FFwD, so I haven't tried this one. I think I'd try to lighten it up too though.
I think you are the first one that I have seen that took up the adding of the sweet potatoes...it looks pretty that way. I don't know, we loved this, not sure why, but I thought it had a lot of flavor. Yours looks great!
Hehe I like how you made sure that there was going to be lots of cheese topping. I always go for that part! :D I bit of a shame that it was bland though :(
Im glad the salt shaker helped some!:) I made the flan this week but used SP!!
Your additions sound so good to me. Sorry it was a bit bland...I'll remember that and season accordingly when I make it.
Looks tasty but I understand that salt and fat really carry flavours! Anyway, I have an award for you on my blog. I hope you will accept as you so deserve it!
Thanks Marcellina!
Unfortunate that it disappointed. Sadly for the hips, you really can't beat salt and fat for adding body and taste, can you?
I haven't made this one yet, but it sounds really rich. I think it was a good idea to add the other veggies- they're really pretty in there! Glad it was better the next day. :)
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