Broccoli and Blue Cheese Au Gratin Potatoes
Rose Heichelbech
When it comes to making a one-pot meal, the key is to get the most flavor for your effort. This blue cheese and broccoli potatoes au gratin does just that, with a few surprising ingredients that add a lot of flavor and crunch to this dish. When you’re craving a casserole, but want something a little different, this one has just the right combination of flavors.
For this recipe you’ll start with parboiled russet potatoes, sliced thinly.
Then it’s time to sauté the shallots.
Next comes the sauce which is made using room temperature milk and buttermilk, heated slowly so as not to “break” the sauce and cause separation. Additional flavor comes from mayonnaise, dijon mustard, and Worcestershire sauce.
Then comes the fun part of layering the different ingredients. This recipe calls for mushrooms, but if your family members aren’t great fans of these fungi then leave them out altogether. The choice is up to you.
Monterey jack and blue cheese top this casserole before it gets baked in the oven for 45 minutes.
The really yummy part comes next: a layer of crushed potato chips on top. Back in the oven it goes for 10 more minutes. The final step is to place steamed broccoli florets around the edge of the baking dish and bake for a final 5 minutes.
There are a lot of steps, but the result is a unique flavor that has some of the familiar tastes of your favorite casserole- but with a bit of a twist. We also love that you’ve got a lot of flavor and plenty of veggies all packed into one convenient casserole.
Broccoli and Blue Cheese Au Gratin Potatoes
1 hour 30 minutes to prepare /serves 6
Ingredients
- 7 medium russet potatoes peeled, parboiled, and thinly sliced
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 2 shallots, minced
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups milk, at room temperature
- 1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon Dijon-style mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 2 ounces blue cheese, crumbled, divided
- 1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
- 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
- 1 1/2 cups coarsely crushed potato chips
- 2 cups chopped broccoli
- 1 tablespoon diced pimiento or red pepper, for garnish (optional)
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a shallow 9-inch square casserole dish. Arrange half of potato slices in pan and set aside.
- Melt butter over medium heat and add shallots and garlic, cooking for 1 minute.
- Whisk in flour and cook for an additional 3 minutes more.
- Add milk and continue to cook, stirring constantly, until sauce is thickened.
- Remove saucepan from heat and add the white pepper, mayonnaise, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, parsley, and half the blue cheese. Stir to blend ingredients together. Add in buttermilk and stir.
- Layer mushrooms over the potatoes in the baking dish. Spread half the sauce over top and sprinkle with Monterey Jack cheese.
- Layer the remaining potatoes over cheese and cover with the rest of the sauce. Sprinkle with the remaining blue cheese.
- Bake for 45 minutes. Evenly sprinkle potato chip crumbles on top. Bake for an additional 10 minutes.
- In a saucepan over medium heat, steam the broccoli until still slightly crisp. Arrange the broccoli around the edges of potatoes and garnish with optional pimiento or pepper. Bake for an additional 5 minutes.
Recipe adapted from The Old Farmer’s Almanac.