Scalloped Potatoes

The other day I asked Bailey if my recipes weren't a little bit too retro for our hipster blog. They're old fashioned for sure, but I like to think this food I've been cooking for so many years hasn't stayed back in the 60's. I've tried to evolve my recipes as I go along and I love to use fresh herbs and adapt my dishes to include the different flavours I've grown to love over the years. I especially love the flavours in dishes from Thailand and Mexico. So I guess I really expected her to say that my dishes were totally sexy enough for our blog. Hahah here is what she said "No mummy. I love your recipes. They always remind me of an episode of Mad Men." So sweet. Not really what I wanted to hear. But very sweet and very honest. So I guess I've found my niche, and Mad Men it is. And Mad Men is very cool, so I'll take it! I'll embrace my Betty Crocker style with a few added twists of my own, and I'm going to share all of these old recipes, and everything old is new again! So, to my way of thinking, Scalloped Potatoes are the new Little Black Dress! Lots of flavour here and you can serve them with anything.

You'll need:
An ovenproof casserole dish with a cover.
4 potatoes, peeled and sliced about 1/4 thick
1 onion, sliced
1/2 cup of butter
3 tablespoons of flour
1 1/2 cups of chicken broth
1 cup of cream
salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon of chopped fresh rosemary
1/4 teaspoon of mustard powder
3/4 cup of grated cheese. I use parmesan (not the powdered stuff. Fresh on your big holes on the grater) but Gruyere works beautifully here too.
If you're making these for a crowd, use 6 potatoes and 2 onions. The amount here will serve 4 people.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Layer some potatoes to cover the bottom of your pan, then layer some onion. I break out the rings in the onion slices and sort of spread them out. Add a bit of salt and pepper. Now repeat for another layer and so on until you've placed all the potatoes and onions in the dish.
On the stove on Med heat, melt the butter and add the flour. (A roux if you will) and whisk until it turns golden. Add the chicken broth and the cream and whisk just until it comes to the boil. If it's too thick, thin it down with a little more broth. Remove it from the heat and whisk in the rosemary, the mustard powder and some freshly ground pepper. Pour it all into the casserole dish over the potatoes. Sprinkle cheese over the top and cover it. Bake for 1 hour. Let it sit with the cover on for about 10 minutes before you serve.

This is definitely 60's style Mad Men food! And I promise you this will be the best potato dish you've ever tasted. Don't forget to bring your man his slippers and his martini the minute he gets home from work and let him relax from his long workday! Hahaha or better still, let him get his own slippers and you drink the martini so you can relax from your long workday! Cheers friends!