3 large or 4 medium rooster potatoes (or any similar 'floury' potato)
45g real butter
25g flour
3g salt
dash cracked black pepper
180g grated cheddar cheese
475ml whole milk
A large gratin or casserole dish
This is a favourite side dish that I make regularly - at least once a month or so. It's so versatile & we've had it with every type of meat & poultry, as well as with fun food like sausages, fish fingers, chicken nuggets & battered fish. It's very more-ish & not the least bit low fat, so watch out! The key is using real butter, whole milk & full fat cheese as the sauce simply won't thicken if you use low fat substitutes. I learned this the hard way!
Method:
As with many of my cheese or cream-based sauces, this starts with a simple roux, but first I would suggest preparing the potatoes & having all of the ingredients of your cheese sauce pre-measured & ready to add in. This will enable you to keep stirring when you need to & prevent something burning or sticking while you turn around to weigh or measure something. First, wash & peel the potatoes, cut into halves or quarters & slice into 1/4 inch thick half-rounds. For the smaller ends of the potatoes or if you're using a larger amount of smaller potatoes, you can simply cut rounds. Fill the dish with these raw thin slices of potato. For the roux, melt the butter on a medium heat. When the butter is fully melted, add in the flour, pepper & salt together. Stir constantly with a whisk (I highly recommend a 'Wonder Whisk' for this - it's the best for the job) for 1 minute in order to thicken the roux & cook out the flour taste. The roux should be bubbling a little while you stir, but if it's bubbling intensely, simply turn the heat down a little. Once you've whisked for 1 full minute, pour in all of the milk at once. Stir for a few seconds with the whisk & then switch to a spoon. Stir regularly for roughly 5 minutes until the mixture thickens considerably. Once it has reached a thickness that you're happy with, dump in your grated cheese (a good strong or mature cheddar gives the best result). Stir again for just a minute or so until all the cheese is melted & blended in. Pour the cheese sauce over the sliced potatoes & ensure they are fully covered. Cover the dish with foil & cook at 200 Celsius (390 F) for 1 & 1/2 hours. It's as simple as that! It's fool-proof & comes out perfectly every time. Just be sure to leave enough time - it might be a dish best made on weekends if you don't have 90 minutes to spare on a weeknight. I did try once or twice to pull them out early in a panic to get dinner on the table, but the potatoes were still partially raw. It definitely needs the full 90 minutes!
This feeds the 3 of us for 2 nights with some leftover for lunch or a snack, so it would work well for a large family.
the butter & flour paste
the thickened mixture after the milk
after the cheese is melted in...
the potatoes before the oven
the finished dish
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