Paula Wolfert

Fennel and Potato Gratín

Preparation info

  • Difficulty

    Easy

  • Serves

    4

Appears in

top 1000The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen: Recipes for the Passionate Cook

The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen

By Paula Wolfert

Published 2003

  • About

Here is a wonderful gratin of thin slices of potato and fennel smothered with melted cheese. Be sure to use an earthenware cazuela or a shallow, round baking pan so that potatoes will cook and brown evenly.

Ingredients

  • 4 large red potatoes
  • 2 medium fresh fennel, trimmed
  • 1 tablespoon butter, softened
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon Freshly ground pepper
  • 2 cups milk
  • 2 to 3 ounces French chabichou du Poitou, Italian mozzarella, California teleme, or Cypriot haloumi cheese, coarsely diced
  • 1 egg

Method

  1. About 2 hours before serving, preheat the oven to 350°F. Peel the potatoes and cut them into paper-thin slices, preferably on a mandoline. Rinse them in cold water; drain well. Slice the fennel paper-thin.
  2. Use the 1 tablespoon butter to grease a 10-inch round cazuela or shallow baking-serving dish. Toss together the potato and fennel slices with the flour, salt, and pepper. Arrange in the dish in an even layer. Pour 1¾ cups of the milk over all. Bake until the potatoes and fennel are tender and steamy, about 1 hour.
  3. In a food processor, puree the cheese and egg with the remaining ¼ cup milk until smooth. Pour this mixture over the top of the gratín. Raise the oven temperature to 400°F and continue baking, uncovered, until the gratin is golden-brown and glazed, 25 to 35 minutes.

The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen by Paula Wolfert. Copyright © 2003 by Paula Wolfert. Photographs copyright © by Christopher Hirsheimer. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.