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When it comes to side dishes and vegetable accompaniments, especially with Sunday roasts or Holiday dinner, then you can’t beat classic potato gratin. But there are loads of vegetables out there that make a great gratin too, so hopefully here’s a variant of this cheesy classic. Today’s dish is a gratin of sweet potato, potato, zucchini, cheddar and pear. Yes you read well. Potatoes are steamed to start the cooking process and then layered in a dish smothered in cream sauce along zucchini and pear slices, and then baked in the oven with a cheese topping that crisps as it finishes baking. This hearty potato casserole can be served in a variety of ways: It makes an excellent side dish for any holiday meal, but would also work well as a starter or even a vegetarian main course served with nice salad and crusty bread.
Preparation time: 30 min – Cooking time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Ingredients list for the potatoes, zucchini, and cheddar gratin
Serves 6:
- 2 large sweet potatoes
- 2 large potatoes
- 2 zucchini
- 3 pears
- 1/2 cups (10cl) of liquid cream
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 pinch dried rosemary
- 10 fresh sage leaves
- 3 1/2 oz (100g) cheddar
- Salt and pepper
Directions
1. Heat the cream in a saucepan with chopped garlic, rosemary and whole sage leaves. Turn off the fire and let steep, covered.
2. Meanwhile peel the potatoes and sweet potatoes. Steam until they are tender ( 20-30 minutes). Allow to cool, then cut into thin slices.
3. Peel pears and cut them into strips along with zucchini (no need to peel them).
4. Fill the dish, alternating 1 row of potatoes, 1 row of pears, 2 rows of sweet potatoes and 2 rows zucchini ( have them tightly against each other to make them stand upright ).
5. Remove the sage leaves in the sauce. Add 2 coffee spoons of salt and a little pepper and pour over the vegetable slices. Sprinkle with grated cheddar.
6. Bake for about 1 hour in a preheated oven at 390°F (200°c).
Enjoy with a salad or as an accompaniment to white meat.
