Gratin Gallois, or Slow-cooker Sludge
Normally for these winter Sunday evenings we cook a huge pot of something in the slow-cooker. Slow-cooker Slop. Mince, tomatoes and whatever else we think to add, either to make a kind of chilli (remembering that food in France is NOT generally hot and spicy) or cottage pie or whatever. (We once did a massive pork casserole and one of our muslim students came back to visit that week. Oops. Moral of the story, always have a non-pork alternative)
Last night we'd used up all our mince and we had a glut of potatoes, so I decided to make a massive slow-cooker gratin dauphinois, but with the addition of lardons to give some minimal protein content.
My construction was very simple - slice potatoes directly into the slow-cooker with the mandoline.
A layer of potatoes, a scattering of lardons, a splash of cream, a sprinkling of chopped garlic, a little salt and plenty of pepper. Repeat till the slow-cooker is full, then add milk and top with grated cheese. Cook for hours as is the way with slow-cookers.
Tip for the mandoline. Cut the potatoes in half before slicing and put the cut side to the mandoline blade.
It worked very well. I was concerned that the potatoes would become one huge uniform greasy sludge, but they didn't. They kept their disc-like nature and the bacon, cheese, garlic etc. was very tasty.
Next time I'll put in more lardons and cheese between the layers, and maybe add onions.
Last night we'd used up all our mince and we had a glut of potatoes, so I decided to make a massive slow-cooker gratin dauphinois, but with the addition of lardons to give some minimal protein content.
My construction was very simple - slice potatoes directly into the slow-cooker with the mandoline.
A layer of potatoes, a scattering of lardons, a splash of cream, a sprinkling of chopped garlic, a little salt and plenty of pepper. Repeat till the slow-cooker is full, then add milk and top with grated cheese. Cook for hours as is the way with slow-cookers.
Tip for the mandoline. Cut the potatoes in half before slicing and put the cut side to the mandoline blade.
It worked very well. I was concerned that the potatoes would become one huge uniform greasy sludge, but they didn't. They kept their disc-like nature and the bacon, cheese, garlic etc. was very tasty.
Next time I'll put in more lardons and cheese between the layers, and maybe add onions.
Comments