Red Onion, Thyme, and Smoked Applewood Cheddar Potato Dauphinoise

Inspiration for this dish comes from my brother Jesse, who a while back told me he'd invented a potato gratin with red onion, thyme, and smoked applewood cheddar and suggested I might want to try it out for this blog. It took me a few attempts to get this right, and what I learnt from these attempts was that the golden rules when it comes to potato dauphinoise are:

1. Slice the potato as thinly as possible (I used a boxed cheese grater).
2. Don't pre-cook the potato - you need the starch to thicken the sauce.
3. Don't try to lower the fat content of the recipe by using milk; it does not work and you end up with a far inferior dish.

After a few attempts, I was able to get this dish down to perfection; my boyfriend's comment after he'd taken his first bite: 'Yep, you've smashed it'. I think that about sums it up. A warning: this is a highly indulgent and rich dish.

Serves 4 - 6

Ingredients:
One red onion
400g potatoes
300ml cream
50g smoked applewood cheddar
Salt and pepper
3 cloves garlic
Dried thyme
Smoked paprika

Instructions:

1. Thinly slice the red onion, and fry in oil/butter until soft. Place to one side.

2. With butter, grease a baking dish. Take one clove of garlic, peel it, and crush it under a knife. Rub the greased baking dish with the partially crushed garlic clove.

3. Peel the potatoes, and slice as thinly as you can. I used the vegetable slicing section on a boxed cheese grater. This gives potato of the perfect thinness, however it can get difficult to slice, messy, and you need to be careful you don't slice you hand as the potato will get slippery.

4. Layer the potato in a medium sized oven dish; I used an oval dish around 23cm long. Place some dabs of butter and seasoning with salt and pepper, and sprinkling sparingly with thyme. Do this until around half the potatoes are used.

5. Pour the cream into a jug, and add crushed garlic cloves, as well as some smoked paprika and thyme. Don't add too much as both flavours are quite strong. Season with salt and pepper. Pour half the cream over the potatoes in the dish.

6. Add the red onion to the dish.

7. Continue layering the dish with potato until finished. Pour the remaining garlic-cream mixture over the top, and grate the smoked applewood cheddar on top. Finish with a sprinkling of smoked paprika and season with salt and pepper.

8. Bake in the oven at 180 degrees C/gas mark 4 until cooked through - this will depend on how thinly you sliced the potatoes, but I would recommend checking after 30 - 40 minutes and every 10 minutes or so after that.