"The Macy's Culinary Council Thanksgiving & Holiday Cookbook" - Blue Cheese Potatoes au Gratin - Christmas Day

Date I made this recipe:  Christmas Day, 2017

The Macy’s Culinary Council Thanksgiving & Holiday Cookbook

Published by Macy’s in commemoration of the 85^th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

ISBN:  978-0-9779890-5-8; copyright 2011

Recipe:  Blue Cheese Potatoes au Gratin – p. 23

Let me just cut to the chase:  These are some of the best potatoes I have ever eaten! 

There.  Now that I have your attention, let me just say that it took me long enough (six years) to cook from this cookbook, but it was well worth the wait. 

The recipes in this book were all contributed by chefs who were members of Macy’s Culinary Council:  Rick Bayless; Michelle Bernstein; Cat Cora; Tom Douglas; Todd English; Marc Forgione; Emeril Lagasse; Wolfgang Puck; Marcus Samuelsson; Tim Scott; Nancy Silverton; Ming Tsai and Takashi Yagihashi. 

If you are into cookbooks and cooking like me, you probably know most of these names.  Maybe you have their cookbooks.  I have met personally Cat Cora and Marcus Samuelsson, and have eaten also at Marcu’s Red Rooster restaurant in Harlem.  If you’re like me, you gush a little.  These people are all kick-ass chefs who know their way around a kitchen, but yet were happy to share their skills and expert observations with Macy’s shoppers.  I like that.

My husband and I didn’t really observe Thanksgiving Day this year because we still had leftovers from the pre-Thanksgiving family dinner we had the week before.  Initially, I was thinking of making a belated T-Day dinner and earmarked several T-Day recipes in the book, but then as I am wont to do, I changed things up and went in another direction.  The other direction was a beef brisket (not in this cookbook) accompanied by these Blue Cheese Potatoes au Gratin and a Roasted Beet Salad (also from this cookbook, page 111).

I have to say that the brisket was okay, the beet salad was very good, but these ‘taters were just amazing.  As these things go though, they almost didn’t happen.  When we went grocery shopping on Christmas Eve, I was pretty convinced that I had enough blue cheese for the recipe.  Turned out I didn’t, and then it turned out that Andy inadvertently munched his way through some of what I had on hand during his daily “cheese and crackers hour.”

You know how people look when they’re caught eating let’s say ice cream straight out of the container?  This is what Andy looked like when I “caught” him eating the cheese!

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?  I told you that I was using that in the potatoes!”  He claims that the cheese stock was already depleted before he touched it, but I don’t know about that.  I do know that I wish I had taken a photo of him stuffing a cheese-laden cracker into this mouth because it was pretty funny and also evidence of his near-crime!

This left me then low on cheese and low on choices.  We had other cheese in our refrigerator, but some were too hard, some were the wrong flavor profile, and some were similarly textured, like feta, but just not right.  This left me with goat cheese and you know what folks, when I used it in this recipe, I discovered I inadvertently (and out of necessity) hit the jackpot.  The texture of blue cheese is not exactly the same as goat cheese, but they blended well together, and the dish was delicious. 

What I really loved though, was that you simmer the potatoes in the cream before baking them in the oven.  This lets the flavor infuse, and also pre-cooks the potatoes so your potatoes come out soft and creamy.

This recipe was submitted by Eugene Flynn, owner of Amanda’s restaurant in Hoboken, NJ, who caters a pre-parade event for parade staffers and their families.  I just looked at his restaurant menu and he serves these potatoes with a sixteen-ounce grilled Angus Sirloin and I am so going there and getting that when we return to NJ this summer.  Road trip!

This cookbook is divided into holidays – Thanksgiving and “Holiday”– and each chef contributes a menu as follows:

Thanksgiving

• Parade Party:  Emeril Lagasse
• Left Coast Thanksgiving: Tom Douglas
• New Classic Thanksgiving:  Marc Forgione
• A Southern Thanksgiving:  Cat Cora
• Leftovers for Lunch:  Nancy Silverton

Holiday

• Friends and Family Cookie Exchange
• Holiday Brunch:  Wolfgang Puck
• Holiday Open House: Tim Scott
• Christmas at Home:  Rick Bayless
• Feast of the Seven Fishes:  Todd English
• An American Julbord:  Marcus Samuelsson
• Dumpling Party: Ming Tsai
• Hanukkah Dinner:  Michelle Bernstein
• New Year’s Eve Party:  Takashi Yagihashi

 Almost every recipe is accompanied by mouth-watering photos which I always love and some chef commentary to boot.  Honestly, there were few recipes from this book I didn’t want to make and had to work hard to limit it to two and only two.

Even though I made these potatoes (and beet salad) for Christmas, they are the perfect accompaniment for any meal, especially a roast or a meatloaf, so knock yourself out.  Just keep your eye on both your husband and your cheese supply!

Blue Cheese Potatoes au Gratin – Serves 8 to 10

2 tablespoons butter

1 quart heavy cream

3 pounds Idaho russet potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/8 inch thick (preferably on a mandoline)

2 teaspoons kosher salt

5 ounces Maytag blue cheese, crumbled

Kosher salt

Ground white pepper

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Butter a 9- by 12-inch baking dish.

Pour the cream into a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat and slowly bring to a boil, watching carefully so the cream does not boil over.  As soon as the cream reaches a boil, add the sliced potatoes and salt and stir to combine.  Bring the mixture back to a simmer (stirring often so the potatoes don’t stick to the bottom) and cook until the mixture has thickened, and the potatoes are almost fully cooked, about 10 minutes.  Remove from the heat.

Layer one-third of the potatoes in the bottom of the prepared baking dish.  Sprinkle one-third of the blue cheese evenly over the potatoes and season with a little salt and white pepper.  Repeat the layers twice, ending with the blue cheese.  Pour any cream left in the pan over the potatoes, and cover the dish loosely with foil.

Bake until the potatoes are cooked through, about 45 minutes.  Remove the foil and continue to bake until the top is browned and lightly crusted, about 15 minutes more.  Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Ann’s Note:  As noted above, I ran out of blue cheese and so added goat cheese and loved the results.  I think you too can play with the cheeses you use so long as you get something similar in texture and taste.