For dinner I decided I wanted a pork chop with a white wine pan sauce. The question was, what do I serve it with? The vegetarian always enjoys anything with potatoes and cheese, and so I was thinking of a gratin. Adding some broccoli into the mix gave the meal a much needed green vegetable. While I’ve made gratins before, I wanted something new. I stumbled on a recipe from Food & Wine Magazine that included potatoes, Parmesan cheese and caramelized onions — adding broccoli seemed like an easy enough maneuver.
While the recipe calls for Parmesan cheese, I didn’t have that much left, so I added some sliced mozzarella cheese. The combo ended up being pretty tasty and cheese plus broccoli, well, you know how that one ends…
Ingredients:
Recipe adapted from Food and Wine
1 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 small garlic clove, minced
1/4 teaspoon minced rosemary
1/4 teaspoon minced sage
1/4 teaspoon minced thyme
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Vegetable oil cooking spray
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Mozzarella cheese (2-3 slices, chopped)
3 large egg whites plus 2 large whole eggs
3/4 cup skim milk
In a steamer basket, steam the potatoes until tender, about 20 minutes. Let the potatoes cool slightly, then peel and cut them into 1/4 -inch-thick slices.
While the potatoes are steaming, heat the canola in a medium skillet. Add the onions and cook over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until softened and just beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to moderately low and cook, stirring, until caramelized, about 15 minutes; add 1 to 2 tablespoons of water if the skillet is dry. Stir in the garlic, rosemary, sage and thyme and season with salt and pepper.
Preheat the oven to 350°. Coat a 9-inch deep-dish pie pan with cooking spray. Arrange half of the potato slices in the pie pan, overlapping them slightly, and season with salt and pepper. Top with the onions and half of the cheese. Cover with the remaining potato slices.
In a bowl, combine the egg whites, whole eggs, skim milk, and nutmeg and season with salt and pepper. Pour the custard over the potatoes and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Bake the gratin for about 45 minutes, or until the custard is set and the top is golden. Let the gratin rest for 10 minutes before serving.
