Dauphinoise Potatoes

Yesterday I made a big pan of Dauphinoise Potatoes (also known as d'Auphinoise).  These are like a very rich, very garlicky  potato gratin.  They go great with lamb, which is what I made for Valentine's Day dinner last night.

I started by separating the cream from 10 gallons of our own goat's milk.  Click here for a detailed post on this process.  I got about 5 quarts today and will be using about half of it in the Dauphinoise (did I mention they were rich?).  The other half I churned into goat's milk butter.  Take this link to a post all about how to do that.

So, for the potatoes, I peeled and chopped one large head (yes "head", not clove) of garlic, and washed and sliced 10 lbs of red potatoes about 1/4" thick.

I put these in a heavy-bottomed pot (important so it doesn't scorch during the initial stove-top cooking) and added just enough of the heavy cream to cover it all then brought the mix to a very low boil.

I continued cooking this on the range, keeping the flame as low as possible, and stirring regularly, for about 45 minutes, until the potatoes were just starting to soften.  I then poured the whole pot-full into a lightly greased (actually I used cooking spray) 4" half hotel pan.

I covered The pan with plastic wrap followed by heavy foil and baked it at 325F for about an hour.  While it baked I grated  2 lbs of  our house-made Monterey Jack cheese in the food processor.

I took the potatoes out of the oven and turned the heat up to 375F.  I uncovered the potatoes and spread the cheese evenly over the surface and popped them back in just long enough to melt and slightly brown the cheese.

After cooling, the potatoes set up pretty firmly and can be cut for re-heating or freezing.

Our Valentine's Dinner:  Home-butchered Lamb chops, Dauphinoise Potatoes and Sliced Tomatoes Kathryn just picked from our greenhouse that morning, and a nice bottle of champagne!