CrazedPhotoMom

Creamy Au Gratin Potatoes

A good friend of mine gave me this recipe and it's one of my favorites. I don't make it all that often because Joe's not a big fan of cheese. Here's the recipe - I've altered it a little bit from the recipe given to me by my friend (thanks Kari!) but mostly just quantity, not ingredients. :)

8 red potatoes, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 tsp salt plus salt & pepper to taste
2 1/2 tbsps butter
2 1/2 tbsps flour
2 1/2 cups milk (to make them super creamy, use 1 1/2 cups of cream and 1 cup milk)
2-2 1/2 cups shredded SHARP cheddar cheese
5 slices bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
1/4-1/2 tsp garlic powder

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Butter a large casserole dish.
3. Layer 1/2 potato slices in bottom of pan.
4. Sprinkle half of the garlic powder over the potatoes. Then top with half the onion and half of the crumbled bacon.
5. Add the rest of the potato slices. Then top with remaining garlic powder, onion and bacon.
6. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
7. In saucepan, melt butter over med heat. Mix in flour and 1/2 tsp salt, stirring constantly, for one minute.
8. Stir in milk. Cook until thickened.
9. Stir in cheese all at once. Stir until melted -- about 30 to 60 seconds.
10. Pour cheese over potatoes. Cover with non-stick foil. Bake 1 1/2 hours.

Tips: I use the cheapest, thinned bacon I could find, which happened to be the store brand already cooked bacon. All I had to do was microwave it. It crisps up better than thicker bacon. Make sure it's very crisp and make sure the bacon crumbles are cut up/crumbled up into super small pieces, otherwise the cheese sauce softens them and makes them kind of rubbery. You can add as little or as much bacon and onion that you want. I tend to like just a little of each - enough to give it flavor but not to overpower it.

I also put my casserole dish on a cookie sheet to prevent bake over!!

Enjoy!!