Buttermilk blue potatoes au gratin

6 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
7 mediums Maine russet potatoes; parboiled, peeled, and thinly sliced
2½ tablespoon Unsalted butter
1 Garlic clove; crushed
2 Shallots or green onions; minced
2 tablespoons Unbleached flour
1½ cup Milk; at room temperature
1 cup Buttermilk; at room temp
1 teaspoon White pepper
¼ cup Mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
¼ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
¼ cup Fresh parsley; chopped
2 ounces Blue cheese; crumbled, divided
3 cups Raw mushrooms; sliced
1 cup Monterey jack; grated
1½ cup Potato chips; coarsely crushed
1 (10 oz) pkg frozen chopped broccoli; thawed
1 tablespoon Canned pimento; diced

Directions

Arrange half of the potatoes in the bottom of a buttered 2½-quart shallow casserole dish. Make the buttermilk-blue cheese sauce as follows: melt butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. Add garlic and shallots and saute for 1 minute. Add flour, stir, and cook for 3 minutes more. Pour in milk and buttermilk all at once. Cook, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens and bubbles. Remove from heat and stir in white pepper, mayonnaise, mustard, Worcestershire, parsley and half of the blue cheese.

Layer all the mushrooms over the potatoes in the casserole; top with half of the sauce and distribute the grated jack cheese over the sauce. Layer remaining potatoes over cheese and spoon remaining sauce on top. Sprinkle with remaining blue cheese. Bake at 350F for 45 minutes. Sprinkle potato chips over top and bake an additional 10 minutes. Meanwhile, blanch the broccoli. Arrange broccoli around outer edges of casserole and garnish with pimento; bake 5 minutes longer.

This recipe, by Mary Lou Carlson, won first prize for potatoes in the 2nd Annual Great New England Cookoff, sponsored by Yankee Magazine.

Christie Aspegren, September 93 Round Robin.

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