Thursday, May 06, 2010

Potato-goat cheese gratin

I've been trying out some recipes I've clipped from magazines, not all are winners!  I made this tonight and thought it was very good.  I've never cooked with leeks before, but was pleasantly surprised.  They had a wonderful flavor.
Most traditional potato gratin dishes mean a lot of butter and heavy cream, but this has neither.  The Yukon gold potatoes added so much flavor and the standard cream is replaced with fat free milk.
Don't be intimated by the amount of ingredients...it's really a simple dish to make!

Ingredients:
1 tbs olive oil
3 large leeks (white part only), trimmed, halved lengthwise, thinly sliced (1 1/4 cup)
1 1/2 cup fat-free milk
1 Tbs.  flour
1/2 tsp.  salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1 clove garlic, minced
2 1/4 lb. (4 - 5 med)  Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/8 inch slices (I did not peel mine).
4 oz goat cheese
1/4  up Panko bread crumbs
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
parsley to garnish (optional)

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spray casserole dish with non stick spray.  Heat olive oil and cook leeks on medium heat till lightly brown.
2.  In a small bowl whisk 2 Tablespoons of milk into flour.  Whisk in remaining milk, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and garlic.
3.  Arrange half of potato slices in dish.  Sprinkle leeks and goat cheese on top of potatoes, pour half of milk mixture over potatoes, leeks and cheese.  Layer remaining potatoes; pour remaining milk mixture over all.
4.  Bake covered 45 minutes.  Uncover; bake about 25 minutes or until potatoes are tender
5.  For topping combine bred crumbs and Parmesan, sprinkle on potatoes.  Bake uncovered about 15 minutes more till topping is browned.  Top with parsley.
Makes 8 servings.

Nutritional Info:
209 calories
6 g total fat (3 g sat. fat)
9 mg chol
278 mg sodium
32 g carbs
2 g fiber
8 g protien


Note:  I would suggest using only Panko bread crumbs.  I was out and used regular which were kind of heavy.  It was still good, but I think the Panko would be much better.
I would also say you could increase the amount of leeks if you like.  The flavor is very mild.

3 comments:

Mari Nuñez said...

This looks yummy, I love the combination of ingredient you got there. Goat cheese is good I had the opportunity of tasting it, except it was made here in Dominican Republic.

Thanks for this wonderful recipe.

donna said...

these sound yummy Pat...Ronny's birthday is soon and I think I will try these for his birthday dinner...

Mrs. Mac said...

This 'tater state' queen will be trying these soon. I've got Yukons growing in the garden.