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Well, okay.
First, this is not a dish for those who fear fat! It can be a rough and ready peasant dish or high end fare. It all depends on how you deal with the potatoes, what cheeses you use, and the presentation.
Tools:
Mandoline
Pyrex baking dish - 9x13 or similar
Cheese grater
Cheese cloth
Kitchen twine
Microplane grater for nutmeg
Potato peeler
Kitchen knife
Large spatula
Ingredients:
Waxy potatoes - 2.5-3 pounds Yukon Golds are good for this. Do not use floury baking potatoes. You need the potato slices to maintain their identity, otherwise the dish loses firmness - It will taste just fine, but it will collapse when you serve it.
Good Swiss cheese - Emmenthal is a good melting cheese, with some interesting flavors
Good hard cheese - Gruyere or if you're feeling flush Comte - These add depth and a nutty flavor.
Anywhere from a half pound to a pound each - if you buy too much you can always eat the rest.
Pint of half & half or good heavy cream - try to get unpasteurized, it tastes better plus a 1/4- 1/2 cup whole milk
2 large garlic cloves
Butter - some for greasing the baking dish - a lot more for the potatoes say 1/4 pound plus a bit more
Whole nutmeg - ground nutmeg in a jar loses its flavor within minutes of being ground
Herbes de Provence - (a mixture of dried sage, savory, thyme, lavender, bay, basil, rosemary) No "Italian Seasoning" won't work.
Extra fresh or dried rosemary
Rosemary stalks for garnish
Salt - fine ground sea salt.
Fresh ground black pepper
Method:
Note: The dish can be assembled the night before and refrigerated. Or you can assemble, cook and serve all on the same day. It depends on how complicated the rest of your dinner is.
Cut the garlic cloves in half.
Rub the inside of the baking dish with a cut clove of garlic.
Generously butter the dish. A tablespoon of butter is barely enough. The butter should be visible. Set aside.
Put the Half&Half and milk into a small pan over very low heat. Add the cut garlic cloves.
Take a square of cheese cloth and put some rosemary and a tablespoon of Herbes de Provence into the center and tie tightly with the twine making a little bag of herbs. Put the bag into the milk mixture and let it heat slowly while you cut the potatoes and assemble the dish.
Grate the cheeses (I love baby cheeses) and mix them together.
Wash the potatoes and remove eyes, soft spots, etc.
Now it's decision time: Skins or peeled.
If you leave the skins on the dish will be closer to the peasant tradition it comes from. The flavor will be be somewhat different, earthier, more robust. If you peel the potatoes, you're moving into restaurant territory. The taste of the cheese, herbs and cream will predominate. Your choice.
If you're going to cook the dish right away, preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C).
Set up your mandoline. You want to have the blade set to make the thinnest slices possible without the potatoes ripping to shreds. An 1/8 of an inch is about right. If you are not used to using a mandoline, USE THE FINGER GUARD! Otherwise there is a good chance of bits of you ending up in the dish.
Slice the potatoes one at a time. Put a single layer on the bottom of the buttered baking dish, overlapping them by about a quarter inch. Slice another potato or two and repeat the layering twice.
You've now reached another crossroads. You can continue slicing and layering potatoes until you have used up half of them, at which point you put a layer of half of the two cheeses, half the herbs and half the butter and then cover with the remaining slices of potatoes and topping with the rest of the cheese, butter, etc. Or you opt for putting a little of the cheese, butter and herbs every three or four layers. This is a matter of personal choice. Do you want a thick layer of cheese in the center and on top or lots of little layers. Both are good choices.
Whatever you decide, put the cheese over the potatoes, put knobs of butter on the cheese, sprinkle generously with herbes de Provence and grated fresh nutmeg. Continue with the rest of the sliced potatoes. Put the remaining cheese and butter on top of the last layer. Pour the hot milk through a strainer over the dish, making sure it goes down the sides of the potatoes. Season with the salt and pepper, the rest of the herbes de Provence and more fresh, grated nutmeg.
Put the dish in the middle of the preheated oven and cook for a minimum of 45 minutes. The top will get bubbly, and the cheese will brown. If it looks too brown, cover with foil. Check the doneness of the potatoes with a skewer. When finished remove from the oven and let rest, covered for ten minutes. If you try to cut them immediately they will just slid off the melted cheese in the middle. When rested, cut into squares, remove from the pan with a large, flat spatula, garnish with a sprig of rosemary and serve. You can always use a big round cookie cutter if you want to go all fancy, and then you, as the cook, will have the little crusty bits around the edge of the pan left to feast on.
If there are any leftovers (HAH!) you can reheat them in the oven. You probably could reheat in a microwave, but I don't have one at home so I don't know. I think the cheese would go all rubbery.
You can eat this by itself or with a green salad, or use it as a side dish with any kind of meat. I like white wine to wash it down.
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