Crock It! Scalloped Potatoes

It happens to me almost every holiday. I plan a delicious meal, if I may say so myself, and then realize that I have overbooked my oven. Even with what I would call an oven and a half (someday I’ll have a double oven) I have to plan baking dish sizes appropriately so I can work out the timing and spacing between the two ovens.

This year, with a little planning ahead I’m going to use my Crock-Pot to make a side dish. Scalloped potatoes are a favorite of mine and I’m sure that simply has to do with the awesome combination of potatoes, cream and cheese. You just can’t go wrong here. I’ve already experimented with this dish and it is certainly holiday-worthy. The recipe is from Slow Cooker Revolution, a new publication from the chefs of America’s Test Kitchen. I have ATK’s permission to publish it here.

Ingredients:

• Vegetable oil spray
• 3 pounds medium russet potatoes (I used 8 potatoes), peeled and sliced 1/4″ thick
• 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried
• 1 1/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 4 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 3/4 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese (3 ounces)
• 3/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (3 ounces)

What’s Next:

1. Line slow cooker with aluminum foil and coat with vegetable oil spray.

   

2. Microwave potatoes with 2 tablespoons cream in covered bowl, stirring occasionally, until nearly tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Let cool slightly.
3. Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and thyme and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
4. Whisk broth, remaining cream, cornstarch, salt and pepper together, then whisk into saucepan. Bring to simmer, whisking constantly, and simmer until thickened, about 1 minute. Slowly whisk in Cheddar and Monterey Jack until completely melted.
5. Spread half of sauce over bottom of prepared slow cooker. Shingle potatoes over sauce, then spread remaining sauce evenly over potatoes. Cover and cook until potatoes are tender, 4 to 6 hours on low.
6. Remove foil collar and let potatoes cool for 20 minutes before serving. (This dish does not hold well on warm setting)

   

Notes from my experience:

It takes time to prepare this dish, so be sure you have allowed plenty of preparation time. Once it’s all in the slow cooker, it’s easy, just getting everything together takes some planning.

This dish is very tasty and looks very pretty when removed from the slow cooker. However, it doesn’t look as pretty once it has started to cool too much. Serve warm and early for the highest level of eye candy.

As far as reheating goes, I reheated the leftovers in the oven. While they were warm and the flavor was good, they did not look as good as when first served.