Scalloped spuds get lighter touch
Sometimes I get homesick for a home that doesn’t exist anymore. My mom is in a nursing home in Maine, far from the rambling West Texas house where I grew up, and the closest thing I have to her cooking is an old spiralbound cookbook and the recipe cards stuffed into it.
One of them is for her scalloped potatoes, a simple dish with onions, butter and cream. Would I change her scalloped potatoes if I made them now? Would a modern sensibility take hold? My questions were answered when I flipped through The Moosewood Restaurant Table by The Moosewood Collective (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2017) and landed on scalloped potatoes and mushrooms. They have just the right amount of modernization.
SCALLOPED POTATOES AND MUSHROOMS
Serves: 8
1 tbsp (15 mL) olive oil, plus
■ more for the baking dish
1 large yellow or white onion,
■ thinly sliced (about 2 cups/ 500 mL)
1 red bell pepper, seeded
■ and finely chopped (about
1 1/2 cups/375 mL)
1 lb (454 g) button or cremini
■ mushrooms, trimmed and sliced ( heaping 4 cups/1 L)
1/4 tsp (1 mL) dried thyme
■
1 1/2 tsp (7.5 mL) kosher salt
■
1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) freshly ground ■ black pepper
3 lb (1.4 kg) Yukon gold
■ or russet potatoes, peeled and each cut in half lengthwise 2 tbsp (30 mL) flour
■
1 1/2 cups (375 mL) grated
■
Gruyère cheese
1 1/2 cups (375 mL) mushroom ■
broth (see note)
1. Preheat the oven to 400 F (205 C). Lightly grease a 9-by13-inch (22.5-by-33-cm) baking dish with a little oil (or coat it with cooking oil spray).
2. Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Once it shimmers, stir in onion and red bell pepper; cook, stirring frequently, until the onion starts to become translucent, 5 to 6 minutes.
3. Stir in trimmed mushrooms, thyme, salt and black pepper; cook until the mushrooms have browned and cooked down a bit, 2 to 3 minutes. Turn off heat.
4. Cut the potato halves crosswise as thinly as you can (into half moons, no thicker than 1/4 inch/6 mm). The yield should be about 6 cups (1.5 L).
5. Layer half the sliced potatoes in the baking dish and then sprinkle evenly with 1 tablespoon (15 mL) of the flour.
6. Spread mushroom-bell pepper mixture over the potatoes, then scatter one-third of the grated Gruyère over that layer.
7. Use the remaining potato slices to build the next layer, then sprinkle with the remaining tablespoon (15 mL) of flour. Pour the mushroom broth over everything and top with the rest of the cheese.
8. Cover tightly with aluminum foil; bake (middle rack) for 30 minutes, then uncover and bake until potatoes are tender and the top is crusty and golden brown, another 30 minutes. Let stand at least 10 minutes before serving. Note: If you can’t find commercially prepared mushroom broth, pour 2 1/2 cups (625 mL) boiling water over 1/2 cup (125 mL) dried sliced mushrooms, such as shiitake, and let them soak for at least 20 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a large liquid measuring cup. You’ll have extra which can be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks or frozen for up to 3 months. The soaked, dried mushrooms can be rinsed, sliced and added to the mushrooms in this dish.