Potatoes and Cheese

Potatoes Savoyarde is a classical French dish - a gratin - perfect with any meat prepared almost any way. I've served it beside Beef Daube, Smoked Salmon, and Chicken Saltimbocca. Whatever you serve it with it's delicious - although you may want to vary the herb to more closely complement the main dish or other sides dishes.

I first came across a recipe for Potatoes O'Brien in 1973 when my grandmother gave me a slim cookbook that included a recipe for "O'Brien au Gratin Potatoes." It's a slim volume named Mrs. Rasmussen's Book of One-Arm Cookery. It wasn't that Mrs. Rasmussen had only one arm, it's that one arm was already dedicated to holding a beer while she cooked. The book was originally a gift from my mother to her mother and then was passed on to me. Although I seldom use the book, its family heritage makes it a treasured posession, and I do love my version

I first ran across this recipe for a carrot and potato casserole or gratin about 20 years ago in an issue of either Gourmet or Bon Appetit. The combination of sweet carrots, starchy potatoes, fresh herbs, and pungent cheese is a real winner. I've long since lost the original recipe but this version is a great addition to a fall or winter meal. I usually make it in individual ramekins but sometimes I also treble the recipe and make it in a larger baking dish.

Parmesan Potatoes with Rosemary is yet another of those recipes that demonstrate that simple and easy is often also best. This dish is particularly good in the spring with genuine new potatoes tasting of the earth they were grown in. But whatever the time of year these potatoes are hard to beat.

I adore stuffed potato skins. By adore, I mean I love them so much I haul my Delonghi deep-fryer out of the closet in the spare bedroom, buy the needed oil, and then clean the deep-fryer afterwards to make them. I typically do this twice a year. (Although I do try to take advantage of the effort by deep frying a few other things while it's out.) I usually go with the original recipe (skins, bacon, cheddar, sour cream), because that's what I fell in love with and if I'm going to that much trouble I want something dependable.

This French potato/cheese/bacon casserole was created for the reblochon cheese-makers association in order to sell more cheese. Potatoes, bacon and cheese? I mean, how can you go wrong? The true reblochon isn't available in this country (it's a raw milk cheese aged less than 90 days) but recommended substitutes are the Italian telagio or bel paese or a young French raclette. Note that this is intended as a main dish, serve it with some buttered spinach or see below for other ideas.