Scalloped Whatever

Hi, Food Fans!

Here’s a dish that appeared on Farmer Stefan’s Christmas dinner table this year. What you’ll find below is a recipe for Scalloped Butternut Squash and Potatoes — but it’s also a basic template for, well, scalloped anything. I’ve adapted the recipe below from a recipe published here at RachelRayMag.com.

I chose this recipe because it’s very basic — simple to understand and easily customizable. The general idea is that you start with a baking dish full of thin slices of some storage vegetable. My example below uses potatoes and butternut squash, but you could also use sweet potatoes, rutabagas, parsnips — whatever you think makes sense. Then you add grated cheese and pour some cream or milk over the top before baking the whole thing. Pretty simple core process, and my experience is that it always comes out tasting marvelous.

So here you go: A yummy and customizable winter recipe:

Ingredients

  • 2 cups heavy cream — or substitute milk or perhaps even coconut milk
  • 4 large sage sprigs — or fresh or dried sage — or thyme — or chives — or what you like
  • 3 cloves garlic, smashed
  • 2 pounds potatoes (about 4 large), thinly sliced
  • 1 butternut squash (2 lbs.), peeled and thinly sliced
  • 2 1/4 cups (8 – 10 oz.) coarsely grated Gruyere cheese — or Asiago or Mozzarella or Parmesan or whatever you favor
  • Salt and pepper

Preparation

1) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. In a small saucepan, bring the cream, sage, and garlic just to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat; allow to steep.

2) Meanwhile, in a large bowl, toss the potatoes and squash (or whatever vegetables you happen to be using) with 1 1/2 cups cheese, 2 tsp. salt and 1 tsp. pepper.

Bowl O' Tossed Veggies and Cheese


3) Transfer to a greased 3-qt. baking dish. If you used whole sprigs of sage, remove them from the cream mixture at this time, then pour the cream mixture over the vegetables. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup grated cheese and more pepper. Here it is, all ready to go in the oven:


4) Bake, covered, until the edges begin to bubble, about 30 minutes. (For the cover, I just placed a baking sheet over the top of my baking dish.) Uncover, sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup cheese and bake until the vegetables are tender and the top is browned, 25 to 30 minutes. Let rest for 15 minutes before serving. Voilà!

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