Potato Mushroom Gratin

My crappy camera doesn't do it justice and oh if you could smell the earthy potatoes, mushrooms and creamy blue cheese!

Well the holidays are about upon us so I thought I'd help out by providing some fabulous dishes for the upcoming festivities - for vegetarians, vegans and meat-eaters alike. The first is one I've been dying to try and when you bake mushrooms, potatoes and cheese together what could go wrong! (don't answer that...) This gratin takes some the best of the fall harvest and turns it into a yummy delight.

Potato Mushroom Gratin

Servings: 6

Time: 30 min active; 1hr 40min total

Type: vegetarian; vegans, is there a such like as vegan blue cheese?

Price: ~$16.00 total; $2.70 per serving

Nutrition (per serving):

Calories: 303

Protein: 12.2g

Fat: 9.8g

Saturated Fat: 4.6g

Cholesterol: 15.3mg

Sodium: 449.4mg

Carbohydrates: 43.4g

Fiber: 5.4g

3/4oz dried mushrooms - I used portobello, but you can also use porcini, chanterelle or shiitake

2 cups boiling water

2lb potaotes - I used regular fingerlings and red crescent fingerlings, sliced thinly

Notice the one on the left is slightly redder - that's the red crescent fingerling.

1 Tbsp unsalted butter - I used vegan butter (saves lots of saturated fat!)

1 lb mushrooms - I used a mix of buttons and creminis, sliced

A lovely mix of buttons and creminis

1 tsp dried thyme or 2 tsp fresh thyme

Obviously I used dried thyme!

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

3 oz blue cheese - I used bleu d'auvergne, but you can use any good quality, on-the-creamy side blue, such as gorgonzola, stilton, maytag or roquefort

2 1/2 cups milk - I used soy as usual, if you really want to make it special and don't care about the nutrition go for heavy cream!

1 oz parm, grated

1. Place dried mushrooms in a small bowl and add 2 cups boiling water so mushrooms are covered. Let stand for 30 minutes to soften.

2. Meanwhile, put sliced potatoes in a large bowl of water so potatoes are covered. Let stand until called for later in the recipe.

3. Clean and slice the buttons and creminis.

4. Coat a 3-quart baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.

4. In yet another bowl (I hope you have a dishwasher - whether human or machine), slightly mash the blue cheese with the soy milk/cream, then season with 1/4 tsp pepper.

5. If the 30 minutes on the dried mushrooms isn't up, busy yourself until about 5 minutes remain. I started typing up this blog entry for the 10 extra minutes I had!

6. Preheat oven to 400 degrees, and then in a large pan over medium heat, melt butter. Add the buttons, creminis and thyme. Drain the dried mushrooms, but don't you dare let that mushroom juice go down the drain! Use as stock or add to your veggie stock for a richer flavor. Slice any large pieces of rehydrated mushroom and add to the pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, until all the moisture from the mushrooms has evaporated about 8-10 minutes. Season with 1/4 tsp SnP. Remove from heat.

7. Place 1/3 of the potatoes in the bottom of the dish. Layer with 1/2 the mushrooms. Add another 1/3 of potatoes, remaining mushrooms and then finally remaining potatoes. Pour the milk/cheese mixture evenly over the top. Sprinkle grated parm over the whole dish.

8. Bake until the cream is almost fully absorbed, 40-50 minutes.