SIDE
Root Vegetable Gratin
Cooking for Jeffrey (p.138)
Ingredients
- Yellow onion 1 cup
- Fennel 2 cups
- Sweet potatoes 1 lb
- Celery root 1 lb
- Gold potatoes 1 lb
- Heavy cream 2 1/2 cups
- Chicken stock 1/2 cups
- Gruyere 6 oz
- Thyme 4 sprigs
- Panko 2 1/2 cups
Prep
- Onion - slice — look at you, operating like a highly paid adult.
- Fennel - top and core removed, sliced — this is the unglamorous shit that makes the good part happen.
- Garlic - mince
- Sweet potatoes - peeled and sliced thinly
- Celery root - peeled and sliced thinly
- Gold potatoes - peeled and sliced thinly
- Gruyere - grate
- Thyme - mince
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 10 x 13 baking dish. Heat 2 tbl of olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat, add the onion and fennel, and cook for 10 minutes, tossing occcasionally, until lightly browned and tender, while resisting the deeply human urge to fuss with it nonstop. Add the garlic and cook for one minute. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the onion mixture, sweet potatoes, celery root, gold potatoes, cream, chicken stock, Gruyere, thyme, 1 tbl salt and 1 1/2 tsp pepper. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish and press lightly so the vegetables lie flat all the way to the edge. Combine the bread crumbs and 2 tbl of olive oil and distribute evenly on top. Bake uncovered for 1 1/2 hours until the vegetables are very tender when tested with a small knife and the top is browned and bubbly. Allow to set for 15 minutes and serve hot.