desperately seeking starch

[snugglekitty]

Yesterday I made a five cheese mixed root veggie gratin, with enormous help from f_butterfly.
The thing that made this easy was having a mandolin. If you do not have a mandolin, it will take much longer and the layers will be thicker.



Things that are Necessary
an assortment of root veggies (I used potatoes, carrots, daikon, beets, turnips, and celery root)
an assortment of cheeses (I used parmesan, gouda, swiss, cheddar, and asiago)
a baking dish
a pot for parbroiling
a strainer

Things that are Nice
a mandolin
pesto, nuts, and/or breadcrumbs to top the gratin with (I used artichoke pesto mixed with chopped walnuts and parmesan)
a second pot for faster parbroiling
an oven
a helper
cream

So, basically, you peel the veggies that have thick skins (like celeriac and beet). You thinly slice all the veggies. You parbroil them until tender (one veggie at a time, so you can get them all to the same doneness before baking). You grate up lots of cheese. You layer the cheese and the veggies. (You could mix all your cheeses up beforehand, but I preferred to use different cheeses for each layer.) After this is all done, you top them with your topping, if you have one - if not, just use more cheese. Then you put it in the oven at 350 for an hour and you take a nap. If you don't have an oven, you could warm it up and melt the cheese in the microwave, it just wouldn't get brown on top.

This dish was well-received. The number it serves depends on how many root veggies you started out with. I basically filled a large baking dish with all of my farmshare veggies from the last two weeks except for the squash and greens.

If I had it to do over, I would do the following -

1) Slice and cook the veggies you have the most of first. That way, there can be more distance between the identical layers.
2) Remember to grease the pan before adding veggies.
3) Add spices and salt, probably in the cheese layers.
4) Include onions or garlic

It was still yummy, though.

Comments

[trouble4hire.livejournal.com]

Num Num Num!
so delicious

[lady-anemone.livejournal.com]

I love that it will keep for a week. I can eat it EVERY DAY!! I wonder how it would freeze.

[bluepapercup]

wow, sounds fabulous!

I love root veggies, and I bet I could trick Ben into eating them by COVERING THEM IN CHEESE!

Yum yum.

[lady-anemone.livejournal.com]

Almost every food can be improved with cheese. :) Let me know if you try it with Ben - I'd love to hear how that goes.

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

Do we have the same definition of "mandolin"? All the mandolins I've ever known have been stringed musical instruments that should not be combined with cheese!

[lady-anemone.livejournal.com]

This is the number two definition, a kitchen utensil for slicing: http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/mandolin

And here is a picture of one:
http://www.villagekitchen.com/mfg/matfer/ktool/mandoline/ss_mandolin.html

They're really very useful if you're dealing in quantity or want very thin slices of something.

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

Wow, I have so learned something today!

But it was really kind of fun, though, to picture how much faster your chopping went with a mandolinist accompanying you. :)

[lady-anemone.livejournal.com]

I would love to test this theory. In the spirit of scientific inquiry, of course. Would live music actually make me cook faster? Or better? :)

[monicaboston.livejournal.com]

Oh, must cook. Thank you for sharing! I wonder whether it would help to make a light bechamel to bind the layers?

[lady-anemone.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! Yes, I imagine a bechamel would make the layers stick together more. I had cream, but since I have a hard time digesting dairy, I wanted to stick to the cheese.