These gratin dishes were originally put together to use the residual heat from the baker’s oven for the family Sunday meal, prepared and left with the baker to be cooked in the cooling bread oven and be collected after church and taken home to eat.
These days we are used to strong flavours, but please don’t be tempted to add more herbs, garlic or stock. The way these dishes are put together makes them pack beautiful flavour. It’s tempting to tweak recipes, but try and resist.
You can make all the potato elements of these gratins into vegetarian or vegan dishes by substituting oil and plant milk.
The recipes are for a group of 6-8, using a large quantity of potatoes - I'll be working on versions for smaller meals and will post them in a while.
This recipe collection was saved by my parents, cut out from a magazine and kept, despite them having multiple cookbooks and years of experience. It's a high recommendation.
Gigot boulangere – roast leg of lamb on potatoes
For 6-8 people
cooking time 4h+
Ingredients
One leg of lamb 1.75-2kg
2.5kg/5½lb potatoes
100g butter
sprigs of thyme, bay leaves
2 cloves of garlic
pepper and salt
an oven dish as long as the leg of lamb, and around as deep as your finger
Method
set the oven to warm 6 (400 or 200) at least 15 minutes in advance
Lamb
The lamb can be prepared in advance but should be at room temperature when you start to prepare the meal
- Peel the garlic cloves, cut into long slivers and with a sharp knife puncture the leg deep into the meat and push the slivers in, repeat until you’ve used all the garlic
- Mash half the butter with pepper and salt, then slather over the leg of lamb and set aside.
Potatoes
- peel the potatoes and cut them into thin slices then spread them out in the oven dish in layers
- between each layer put a sprig of thyme and a bay leaf and repeat until the potatoes are all in the dish
- add enough water in the dish to reach the top of the potatoes, sprinkle with pepper and salt and add half the butter
- set the potatoes to cook in the oven for around two hours – check them after 20m, and once they are boiling turn the heat down to 5/375/190. the potatoes should be completely cooked before you add the lamb, but still be pale
- take the cooked potatoes out and put the buttered, seasoned, garlic studded leg of lamb onto them
- turn the oven to its highest setting
- cook the lamb for 15m per lb/500g to be pink/a point or 20m per lb/500g to be cooked through
- check the lamb every 20m, turning it if it’s very coloured, there is no need to baste it
Once cooked rest the lamb 15 minutes, when carving save the jus to pour over the cooked potatoes
Roti de porc boulangere – roast pork on potatoes
For 6-8 people
Cooking time 3h+
Ingredients
1.8kg/4lb rack or loin of pork
2.5kg/5½lb of potatoes
60g butter
thym, bay leaves
nutmeg
pepper and salt
Method
set the oven to warm 6 (400 or 200) at least 15 minutes in advance
prepare the pork by rubbing mashing the pepper and salt into the butter and rubbing it all over the meat
- peel the potatoes and cut them into thin slices then spread them out in the oven dish in layers
- between each layer grate a little nutmeg, crumble thyme and break up a bay leaf and repeat until the potatoes are all in the dish
- add enough water in the dish to reach the top of the potatoes, sprinkle with pepper and salt and add half the butter
- set the potatoes to cook in the oven for an hour
- adding water to bring it up to the top layer of the potatoes if needed before sitting the pork onto the potatoes
- the pork needs to cook through, in a low oven, allow 22-28m per lb/500g, so turn the oven to 2/300/150 ie around 1¾h depending on the thickness of the joint, then turn off the oven leaving the dish inside for 5-10m
- at this point the liquid in the potatoes will be almost completely gone
- put the dish on the table and carve the pork, pouring any juices into the potato gratin
Pommes boulangere – potato gratin or layered baked potatoes
For 6-8 people
cooking time around 2h
Ingredients
2kg/5lb potatoes
10 onions – medium sized
60g/4 tbsp of butter
3 tbsp oil
salt and pepper
nutmeg
Method
roughly chop the peeled onions and cook in a pan on a gentle heat with the oil and half the butter, stirring, making sure they stay pale. Cook until transparent.
Set the oven to warm mark 6/400/200 at least 15 minutes in advance
peel the potatoes and cut them into thin slices then spread them out in the oven dish in layers
between each layer grate a little nutmeg and add some cooked onion mixture and repeat until the potatoes are all in the dish
add enough water in the dish to reach the top of the potatoes, sprinkle with pepper and salt and add the rest of the butter and the cooking fat from the onion pan
set the potatoes to cook in the oven for an hour then turn the oven up to its maximum temperature and cook another 30m
This dish goes well with any roast meat, ham, dried or cooked sausages
Gratin Dauphinois – Creamy baked potato gratin
This richer version of gratin potatoes goes best with plainer roasts, boiled meats or plain fish dishes. It is delicious, but has a richness of a savoury pudding, and that’s why the quantity of potatoes is reduced. It’s delicious as a main dish and you can make it with plant milk to serve a vegan dish – don’t use coconut oil, it makes it too dessert-y.
Some versions of this dish include egg and even cheese, which creates something very like a potato version of macaroni cheese, tipping it over into excess stodge, don’t do it.
cooking time 1.5h+
For 6-8 people
Ingredients
2kg/5lb potatoes
four cloves of garlic
½ litre/1 pint warmed milk
6 tbsps cream or crème fraiche
Method
rub a peeled clove of garlic around a large deep gratin dish, and crush the remaining garlic into a paste
peel the potatoes and cut them into thin slices then spread half the potatoes into layers in the oven dish
season with pepper and salt, sprinkling of crumbled thyme and half the crushed garlic
add more layers until the potatoes are all in the dish
mix the milk and cream and pour over the potatoes, adding enough water in the dish if needed to reach the top of the potatoes – leave enough room above the layered potatoes so that when the milk boils it stays inside the dish
cook for 1½h or until the milk has boiled away and the potatoes are cooked through
Serve with plain meat or fish and lightly cooked vegetables
