Thursday, 5 January 2012

Truffle Gratin

Paul is one of those poor people whose birthday falls close to Christmas. It's pretty easy to miss it in all the kerfuffle (which frankly I think would be his preferred option) but I do try to make him something pretty special for dinner. And this truffle gratin certainly counts as pretty special. Before you get all intimidated by the notion, it's pretty much just a basic potato dish/scalloped potatoes/casserole potatoes (depending on where you are from) lifted with some minced black truffle. You don't need a lot of truffle, so it isn't ridiculously expensive either.


Truffle Gratin (serves 2 or 3)

3 potatoes
150ml sour cream
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 heaped teaspoon minced black truffles (I use these ones, from Amazon)
Salt, pepper & nutmeg
Grated cheese

Beat together the sour cream and truffles and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Peel and thinly slice your spuds. Place a layer in an oven-proof casserole dish, then scatter with some slices of garlic and sprinkle on a scant spoonful of the sour cream mixture. Repeat until you run out of potato, then pour over the rest of the sour cream mixture.

Bake in a 180C oven for about an hour, covering with foil if it looks like it is getting too dark. About 15 minutes before the end, sprinkle on a thick layer of grated cheese (this was a mix of cheddar and mozzarella, but whatever you like) and return to the oven until the cheese is melted and golden brown and the potatoes are tender all the way through.

We had it with steak and some form of green veg which I couldn't quite identify. It was leafy and I sauteed it and finished it with some lemon juice.

16 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow, sounds quite amazing - and thanks for the source for the black truffles too, I wouldn't have known where to find them!

Arlene Delloro said...

Paul is very lucky; what a feast! I love your blog look. Wish I wasn't such a dunce at playing around with mine.

Bettina Douglas said...

this would be the perfect birthday meal with a nice bottle of red!

Alicia Foodycat said...

Cafe Sucre - these are good ones. I've tried some others than have hardly any aroma.

Arlene - it was unexpectedly easy! Still working on it though.

Mother - it really was. I can't remember what the bottle was though!

kat said...

I think I'd love it even without the truffle ;)

girls who like to gorge said...

WOOWWW! This looks absolutely incredible! xxx

Alicia Foodycat said...

Kat - the sour cream does make a nice change.

Girls - thanks!

Mary Bergfeld said...

How wonderfully decadent :-). The gratin sounds amazing. Thanks for sharing it with us. Have a wonderful day.Blessings...Mary

Caroline said...

Looks gorgeous - but then any combination of cream and potatoes is likely to be good!

Alicia Foodycat said...

Mary - thank you!

C - it is a hard combination to muck up!

Angie's Recipes said...

The gratin sounds amazing with truffle. A simple gourmet birthday meal.

Purabi Naha said...

Amazing! This gratin looks really yummy. I loved this post so much!!

Alicia Foodycat said...

Angie - thank you!

Purabi naha - thank you so much!

grace said...

as far as i can tell, the steak was superfluous--i could totally make a meal from truffle gratin alone! seems to me like you made paul's birthday plenty special. :)

Su-Lin said...

What a wonderfully luxurious gratin! I've never cooked with truffles before...only ever had them at restaurants.

Alicia Foodycat said...

Grace - yup, all it needs is a fork!

Su-Lin - I went to a cooking class a few years ago where she made the point that even though truffles are expensive, you can still produce a luxurious meal at home for less than it costs to eat out.

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