Thanksgiving Side Dish: Feta-Gruyere Potatoes Au Gratin

A few weeks back, I joked on Facebook that I needed a food styling and photography assistant that would work for food as payment.

Well guess what? I found one! She has been quite resourceful with ideas, willing to provide her opinions and likes to make me coffee. Sounds perfect right?

I thought so until I have found she has one major flaw: this photography assistant has the bad habit of sampling the recipe before I am finished taking the photos. See what I mean??

This recipe was inspired by one I saw in relish magazine except I decided to lower the cream and whole milk content by using half-n-half and 1% milk. I also decided to incorporate some Gruyere cheese.  Because this recipe takes a while to cook, it will work well on Thanksgiving since the turkey will be roasting all dang day anyway.

Gobble-Gobble

Feta-Gruyere Potatoes Au Gratin (Serves 8-10 as side dish)
adapted from Relish.com

Ingredients:
1 1/2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
2 1/2 cup finely diced sweet onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 ounces crumbled feta
4 ounces shredded Gruyere cheese
1 1/2 cups half and half
1 cup 1% milk
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 pounds russet potatoes
black pepper
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

Directions:
1. Melt the butter in a large skillet. Add the onions and garlic and saute for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and once cooled slightly, stir in the feta and Gruyere.

2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 13 x 9 baking dish (use cooking spray or use a coated baking dish).

3. Combine the half and half, milk and salt in a saucepan and heat to just under a boil and then remove from the heat.

4. Slice the potatoes into 1/8 inch slices and place one layer in the bottom of the pan. Cover with 1 cup of the onion mixture. Repeat with two more layers and 3/4 cup onion mixture each, leaving enough potatoes for a top layer.

5. Pour the hot milk mixture over the potatoes and season with more black pepper.

6. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and scoop some of the milk on top to baste the potatoes. Bake for another 45 minutes. Sprinkle bread crumbs on top and bake for an additional 15 minutes until the crumbs are brown and most of the milk is mostly absorbed. Let stand for 10 minutes.