Beryl Stokes: Hi, and welcome to Cajun Cooking TV. In tonight's episode, we're cooking Potatoes Au Gratin and I don't mean out of the box. So let's get started.
The first thing we're going to do is slice our potatoes. I have counted two potatoes per person. So there is two of us and we've got some guest coming, so I've cut out eight altogether, I've peeled them and sliced them and then I just have two left so I can show you. I have my veritable peeler and you want put it on the potato and pulled away from you so that you don't scrape your fingernail and your knuckles. So you just peel it like this really quick.
Just like, set this to the side for a second and all I do is cut it down in the middle on a cutting board and with paring knife, just slice it into thin slices like this and then I have like bowl of water, a large bowl of water and a colander sitting here so that it keeps the potatoes moist, otherwise they will start to discolor after a few minutes. We also have a 8 cups of finely shredded Cheddar cheese, so we will be using that a little bit.
We are also going to make a white cheese sauce. So I have one tablespoon of flour and a tablespoon of butter. So in the meantime, I first want to put this is in the microwave and heat up this milk for a minute-and-a-half.
I have here a deep skillet and one tablespoon of butter. I'm going to melt this butter and get it bubbling hot. In the meantime, I've preheated my oven to 400 degrees and in a little while, we're going to put in this deep fridge white casserole dish.
So, right now we're going to start our white cheese sauce by making a white roux first. I'm going to toss in one tablespoon of flour, you want equal parts; butter and flour when you are making the roux. And this just makes your milk mixture and with the cheese just creamy and thick, otherwise it will just be the consistency of milk, in the milk. I've warmed it in the microwave for a minute-and-a-half. You just want to be sure to stir it well, get all the lumps out, make sure all of the flour is incorporated.
I'm going to turn this up to about number 6 on my stove, it's like a medium heat. We're going to continuously stir this just like this with the whisk for 8 to 10 minutes and this milk is going to become really thick and nice --
We're back and I have been cooking for about 10 to 12 minutes actually. I turn off the fire and remove it from the heat. It's a beautiful white sauce here and then I'm going to gradually add in about four cups of this finely shredded Cheddar cheese. Just pour in a little and then mix it up and then pour in some more.
So I just whisk and the cheese just melts right into the sauce. That's why I like to use finely shredded Cheddar cheese , you see how fast that melted. That just dissolves right into the sauce and that is looking so good. I'm going to say some of cheese to go on a top of the Casserole. So I think that will be just about right. Look how good that is. Now this is a good cheesy cheese sauce, whisk it in and the cheese melts.
Our next step is to take our casserole dish. This is a deep casserole dish and I have some Canola spray. You are going to spray bottom and the sides and that helps the potatoes and the cheese mixture not stick. I have already drained the potatoes from water. Just pour those directly in here just like that. This is really a simple dish and then we're going to pour the cheese sauce over it, Oh! Look at that. How you like that Mike?
Mike: That looks awesome.
Beryl Stokes: This is another one of Mike's favorite dishes. I don't think he has too many that he doesn't like. So, we're just going to spread this around, I'm just simply try and work it down in there and it, kind of, does that on its own also. Like I said, I have the oven preheated on 400 degrees. We're going to bake this, I have a baking sheet in there and I'm going to cover it and bake for 40 minutes and then I'll uncover it and bake it for an additional 40 minutes. Now that looks good. Let's get this into oven and we'll see you later on.
Okay, we've taken our casserole out of the oven. It's been 40 minutes with the cover on and then another 40 minuted without the cover, and that's how it gets this brown, beautiful brown color on top.
Now while it's right out of the oven, I want to melt this finely shredded Cheddar cheese on top. I'm just going to go and pour this around evenly and just the heat from the casserole is going to help melt the cheese. We're going to let it sit for five minutes and then we're going to dig in.
Our cheese has melted, we're going to plate this up and give it a try. Look at those good layers of cheese melted in there, it's all creamy and good and then I'll sprinkle a few little chopped green onions for flavor. Let's give this a try. Sure I get some cheese.
The potatoes are tender, we can taste the cheese, cheese sauce and just a little bit of crunch with the green onions just makes this taste wonderful.
Thank you for joining us on Cajun Cooking TV tonight. Tonight we made Potatoes Au Gratin and we sprinkled them with the little chopped green onions and they are wonderful. So, for more recipes like these, please check out our website. See you next time.
Transcription by:
Scribe4you Transcription Services