Buttermilk Potato Gratin
Buttermilk potato gratin came about by mistake. I’d purchased a bottle of buttermilk for another recipe, which never got made, and now it was down to the wire: use up the buttermilk or let it go off and toss it.
So I poured it into a potato gratin. The result was delicious.
Some of you may be wondering about using buttermilk in a potato gratin. Granted, it’s not the first ingredient that leaps to mind. And I admit the result appears a bit curdled. Don’t let this put you off: buttermilk is lovely in a gratin, delivering a nicely tangy edge without taking over. You are hearing this from a lifelong milk hater.
Further, there is the low fat angle, if you worry about that sort of thing. I confess I don’t, but I know others do.
A few notes.
Most recipes advise cooks to parboil the potatoes, and most recipes are right. But I live in the Western United States, where we’re heading into our third year of drought. Meaning we avoid anything involving running taps, shocking, blanching, or parboiling.
I have no nice potato pictures. Instead, here is some tinfoil for your visual pleasure.
Returning to parboiling…or not parboiling. Instead, I microwave my potatoes for about six minutes, allow them to cool, then peel and slice them.
Every time I rub a baking dish with garlic I recall Elizabeth David’s scathing words in Summer Cooking:
It rather depends whether you are going to eat the bowl or the salad.
Granted, Mrs. David was referring to green salad, not potato gratin. Nevertheless, it still gives me pause.
If you follow no other advice in this post, please place your baking vessel on a tray. Should the buttermilk bubble over during baking, it will be far easier to clean that up than your entire oven. You’ve been warned.
We eat Buttermilk Potato Gratin as a main dish, with a green salad. It also makes a nice side, for upcoming holiday meals.
Buttermilk Potato Gratin
prep time: about 15 minutes of hands on work, then 60-90 minutes baking time.
Serves 4 as a side dish or 2-3 as a main dish, depending on appetites and what else is served. To increase portions, use a second baking dish.
I used an oval baking dish measuring 12x9x2inches/30x22x4cm
1 garlic clove, crushed and peeled, for the baking dish
Unsalted butter, for the baking dish
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and sliced
2 pounds/scant kilo baking potatoes (about 4 large) ideally Russets
approximately 2 ounces/60 grams spinach or other greens
1-3 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced or crushed (optional)
about 2 ounces/60 grams cubed ham (optional)
30 ounces/730ml buttermilk
breadcrumbs, either homemade or purchased, about three tablespoons
Salt and pepper
Preheat the oven to 350F/180C
Run the garlic clove around the baking dish, then either toss it, or do as I do and leave it in the dish.
Butter the baking dish. I use about a tablespoon of butter.
The potatoes may be peeled, sliced, and parboiled until just soft–not mushy–or microwaved for six minutes. If you microwave the potatoes, let them cool until comfortable to handle, then peel and slice into rounds.
Place a layer of onions in the baking dish.
Place a layer of potatoes in the baking dish.
Add a layer of spinach or whatever greens you are using. I had enough spinach for a single layer.
Add another layer of potato.
Add ham, if using.
Keep layering the ingredients, finishing with potatoes on top. The breadcrumbs will be added later.
Salt and pepper the gratin.
Place baking dish on baking sheet. Add buttermilk to dish. The liquid should rise just below the top layer of potatoes; you don’t want the liquid sloshing everywhere.
If you are short buttermilk, top up with regular milk or broth. If you have neither, even water will work.
Carefully slide the gratin in the oven and bake for an hour, checking to ensure it isn’t boiling over (it shouldn’t at this temperature) or burning. If the potatoes are burning, cover them with foil.
After an hour, test for doneness by poking a potato with a fork or other tester. If the gratin is close to done, add the breadcrumbs. If it needs more than ten minutes cooking, wait. Add the crumbs at the very end of baking, perhaps five minutes or so.
The gratin is done when a fork or tester slides into a potato without resistance.
Buttermilk Potato Gratin may be prepared up to three days ahead of serving. Bake it, allow it to cool, then cover tightly with tinfoil or plastic wrap and refrigerate. On the day you plan to serve the gratin, bring it to room temperature, and either reheat it in a low oven, or portion it on plates and microwave it.
Leftover Buttermilk Potato Gratin keeps, refrigerated in covered container, up to four days. I keep leftovers in the baking dish, covered with foil.
Leftovers may be frozen, but the texture will suffer.
Notes:
The cooked gratin may appear separated. There is nothing wrong with it, and it will still taste delicious.
As I live with an onion hater, I used only half, placing it on half the gratin.
I used one and one-half bottles of buttermilk. They were 16 ounces/474ml each.
Buttermilk potato gratin may be prepared with any type of dairy–at which point it loses it’s name, but that’s okay. I have not tried nondairy milks, so cannot speak to how they’ll work, but by losing the ham and using them, the dish becomes entirely vegan.
Feel free to substitute/add other root vegetables like turnips, rutabagas, carrots, or parsnips. They will need trimming, peeling, and either parboiling or microwaving before baking.
Use shallot or other alliums in place of the onion.
Have a safe and happy holiday. Thank you for reading.
Share:
You might also like:
Repairing a Ruined Recipe
Today’s post is less about “recipes” than it is about thinking creatively. More succinctly, it is how I turned one awful dish into two good ones, and saved the world. Well, maybe not that last bit. I am not the type who recycles leftovers into new dishes. As far as…
Potato Gratin with Summer Squash
When people think of assistive animals, dogs invariably come to mind. And while it’s true that service felines are few, we who are owned by cats know better. Lucy, for instance, helps John dress every morning. Those of you not cohabitating with wheelchair users likely have devoted little thought to…
Potato Cardoon Gratin
Cardoons, which are seasonal for the next ten seconds, have long fascinated me.With their truly brief window–a few winter weeks in Northern California–cardoons remain that rare thing, a truly seasonal vegetable. This rarity means I’ve had little experience with them, and until now, that experience has been of…
