Scalloped Potatoes

Several years ago I read an interview with Nicole Kidman in a magazine. This has everything to do with this blog post.

One of the questions they asked her was if she had any indulgences - food wise. Her answer was: "anything potato".

A.MEN. SISTA.

Anything potato: french fries, baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, twice baked, boiled. I LOVE potatoes!

Today, it's all about scalloped potatoes. For some reason, I felt like making them last night.

**Note: this recipe was made for 2-4 people, in an 8x8 dish. It can easily be doubled to accommodate a 9x13 dish.**

FIRST THING: preheat your oven to 375 degrees and grate about 1 cup of cheddar cheese.

-Slice your potatoes. I used my trusty mandolin. It makes life easy because the slicing is whippy, and the potatoes are perfectly even every single time!

I set mine on the 3/16'' setting. I wanted them somewhat substantial but that would cook fast too.

- Slice 3 medium potatoes.

-Layer your potatoes and cheddar cheese in your baking dish. Does not have to be perfect, but just enough so that the cheese and potatoes overlap each other in layers.

-Reserve about 1/3 cup cheese for later.

Next is this bad boy. Brace yourself.

-measure 1.5 cups and place into a sauce pan. Scald over medium high heat.

(scald: the stage just before boiling)

If you find this too rich, do half milk and half cream instead. I, personally, felt it was divine with just the heavy cream.

-While the heavy cream is reaching the scalding point, throw in 2 tablespoons of butter...

- 1 clove of minced garlic ...

Swirl the sauce pan several times.

-Generously salt....

(two to three pinches)

...and pepper the cream mixture.

At this point I could see that I was at the scalding point. So I removed the pan from the heat and...

...added the leaves of about three sprigs of thyme to the mixture.

Stir well.

Oh, thyme. How I love thee. I use thyme in A LOT of my cooking. It is a wonderful thing.

Pour the cream mixture over the potatoes and cheese. Top with the remaining cheese that was set aside. Place into oven and bake uncovered for 45 minutes. The last 20 minutes cover with foil so that the top does not burn.

When finished the potatoes should be tender and bubbly. ENJOY!!