#51. Potato, Sage, and Apple Gratin

As far as I can tell, a gratin is basically a custard with food in it. I got the recipe for this one from my trusty book "Easy Vegetarian." It had a flavor that I would describe as "different" and "interesting," and I mean that in a good way despite my use of quotation marks (my roommate wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole, saying, "It has things in it that don't belong together."). The best part, though, was the smell. As the gratin was baking, it brought to mind my family's trip to Europe (16 years ago?) and the wonderful smell of restaurants in Switzerland/Austria/Southern Germany in winter, full of baked Apfel und Kartoffeln und Zwiebeln und Eier (sorry, I don't know how to do the umlaut on Apfel).

This recipe takes about an hour to prepare and about an hour to cook (the book says you can prepare it ahead of time (except for the apples, so they don't oxidize) and cook it an hour before you want it).

[I'm going to leave out the recipe for now because no one is reading this blog, and it's pretty long. If you're interested, just ask here or on Twitter]

Notes for future reference: I would go heavier on the sage, and put the whole amount of apples (I used half as many because I was afraid the baking dish would overflow--instead, the gratin shrank a bit in cooking, I think). This was best freshly cooked, so-so the next day and night, and tasted like bad cafeteria food by day three. I would make a half recipe if you are making it for one or two people.

This was actually quite pretty right out of the oven, but I took the photos at night so the lighting was rather poor:

It looked even better plated, although the layers kept trying to slide apart and fall into a pile:

B+ (I think I would have given it an A if it had taken less time and lasted better in the fridge--it's frustrating to do all that work for something you have to eat in one night)