3 Potato Gratin With Rosemary, Parm and Gouda

You know how the experts say we first eat with our eyes? Here's a dish that's as delicious to those baby blues (or browns or hazels....) as it is to the palate. Three varieties of potatoes - Japanese sweet potatoes, Garnet sweet potatoes, and Yukon golds, fresh rosemary and garlic infused cream, melty gouda and sharp and tangy real parmigiano reggiano all meld together in the oven to become one satisfying and comforting side dish to delight both company and family.


If you have the time, arrange the potatoes into stripes like I did for a recent dinner. If there isn't time for that nonsense, just jumble up the potatoes and get on with it! Without further adieu, here's the recipe.

3 Potato Gratin With Rosemary, Parm and Gouda

• 2 Japanese sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced (I used the slicing blade of my food processor for ALL the potatoes to cut prep time)
• 2 garnet sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
• 6 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 C heavy cream
• 1/2 stick of butter (1/4 C)
• 4 large garlic cloves, peeled and crushed with the flat side of a knife blade
• 3 sprigs fresh rosemary
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1/2 C gouda cheese, shredded
• 1/2 C Parmigiano Reggiano, grated

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Butter a large gratin dish or a large, shallow baking dish. 

In a medium, heavy bottomed pot, combine cream, garlic and rosemary and bring the mixture to a simmer; simmer for 5 minutes, turn off the heat and set aside while you assemble the dish.

To make it the pretty, striped way, arrange the potatoes in alternate stripes in the dish; to make it the easy way, just toss the potatoes together as you peel and slice them and it will still be pretty...win/win!

Potatoes arranged the pretty way...the whitest potatoes are the Japanese sweet potatoes!

Make a layer of potatoes, sprinkle with gouda, salt & pepper. Make another layer of potatoes, sprinkle with parm and pepper (parm is salty, so I don't use salt on the parm layers), make a third layer, sprinkle with pepper and parm and then pour the cream mixture through a strainer over the top of the potatoes. The strainer keeps the big chunks of garlic and rosemary pieces from going into the casserole.

Bake at 400 for half an hour. Reduce the oven to 350 degrees, cover the dish with foil and bake until browned and tender all the way through and the cream has been absorbed by the potatoes - maybe another half an hour. Remove foil and serve. Don't be surprised if you're asked to make this ALL the time!