Sunday, August 9, 2009

Individual Potato Gratins ala Spryte ~ BakeSpace Coast to Coast Cooking

The other day on the daily dinner thread over at BakeSpace, Michele (from My Italian Grandmother) said she was making Melissa D'Arabian's dinner from The Next Food Network Star season finale. She also posted a link to the recipes. When I watched that episode, I was thinking I'd like to make the potatoes. Who doesn't like cheesy potatoes? Everyone should like them. But I still had no clue what I was making for dinner. (oh and for the record, I think Jeffrey Saad should have won!!)

Danielle (from Cooking for my Peace of Mind) had some chicken thawing, but also no idea what to do with it.

Then Michele suggested she make the 4 Step Chicken from the same episode and that they should both make it. Danielle loved the idea and suggested they also blog about it on the same day.

Well... I read that and thought, "Hey!!! I wanna play too!!!!" And at about the same time Shane (from Culinary Alchemy) said he wanted to play too!

It's on! We're all cooking food from that episode and blogging about it on the same day!

BakeSpace Coast to Coast Challenge!!

So here's my version of Melissa D'Arabian's 5 Minute Individual Potato Gratins.

First... why are they called '5 Minute'?? The prep time is 15 minutes and the baking time is 40 minutes! Maybe 5 minutes to gobble them up?? I dunno.

Anyway... this is my version. =)

Individual Potato Gratins ala Spryte
2 large russet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
3/4 C sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
2 TBLS chopped fresh chives
2 TBLS light sour cream
2% milk to make 3/4 C when added to the sour cream
worcestershire sauce, a couple shakes
yellow mustard, a good squirt
salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 400F
Whisk together milk & sour cream.
Whisk in worcestershire sauce, mustard, salt and pepper.
Spray 6 large size muffin tins with cooking spray.
Layer potatoes, shredded cheese and chives into each cup and repeat. This should pretty much fill one tray.
Pour milk mixture evenly into each cup. Cover muffin tray with foil and bake 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 20 minutes.
Gently slide a butter knife around the edge of each cup to loosen the potatoes.
Turn gratins out onto a plate.
Enjoy!

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Yeah... I peeled an extra potato that I didn't need.
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A couple tablespoons of sour cream & enough milk to make 3/4 cup
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A couple shakes of Worcestershire & some yellow mustard
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And salt & pepper
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Layer the potatoes in the greased muffin cups.
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Sprinkle in cheese & chives
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Repeat
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Top off with cheese & chives
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Pour milk mixture evenly into each cup
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Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes in preheated oven.
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Remove foil and bake 20 more minutes.
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Now they're golden with yummy crispy edges
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You definitely want to run a knife around the edges of these.
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Now your little Individual Cheesy Potato side dishes are ready!
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So my version was great! We really loved it and I'll definitely be making it again!

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But now you have to go check it out Coast to Coast ~ BakeSpace Style!

Here's Michele's ~ Cookin' it in New Jersey:
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Click HERE to read about Michele's version.

And Danielle's ~ Cookin' it in California:
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Click HERE to read about Danielle's versions.

And Shane's ~ Cookin' it in California:
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Click HERE to read about Shanes' versions.

Don't those all look great??!!!

We have a lot of fun over at BakeSpace. Come cook with us!!!

11 comments:

Michele said...

You did a great job! I love how you did your links Cookin' it in each State. I love it! I'm going to try the potatoes again with the cheddar! I bet it's soo good! I need to get myself those large muffin tins, I don't have any that size.

Unknown said...

How fun was this?!! I love how you seasoned up the milk. I'll bet that added a lot of flavor throughout! YUM!

justjoycee said...

I love this meal. Looks really great.

Shane T. Wingerd said...

Most Excellent!!! This was an Awesome Idea!!! I love the Cheddary Potatoes, I am going to try that next...

tamilyn said...

I'm disappointed as I didn't get to see the finale and I can't find it on-line to watch. I want to try these-I'm with you, potatoes, cheese-what's not to love?

Bob said...

Oh wow, those look wicked good. I love gratins and that looks like it gets extra crunchy bits.

angelinthekitchen said...

I love your take on the idea! Looks better than the original.

Heather S-G said...

How fun is that!!! You guys rock...what a delicious recipe. Cheese & potatoes...I like it :D And I love the individual muffins tin servings. :)

Gypsy Girl Gourmet said...

Looks great! As soon as I saw the Finale I decided I HAD to try the potatoes in the muffin tin, what a GREAT idea! I usually boil my potatoes for a few minutes first to cut down on the oven time.

Lynn said...

This looks like a fun and creative way to serve potatoes. Thanks for sharing it.

Lynn said...

I made your individual potato gratins tonight with dinner (grilled barbecued chicken wrapped with bacon) and boy, were they good! :) I was about to peel some raw potatoes when I realized I had a few leftover baked ones in the fridge, so I pulled the skin off those and sliced them up instead; cut the cooking time in half. This is my new favorite way to use leftover baked potatoes :) Thanks so much!