Cook with Us #26: Layered Root Vegetables Gratin

It’s good to be back! I feel that season 3 of Cook With Us, with now the support of @curie, will be amazing. I’ve been looking forward to the competition after a much awaited break. After the nerve wracking end to the @docsmith Knife competition, I couldn’t wait to take a break from competition. It’s weird. Even though this contest is mostly amongst friends I always feel an additional pressure each week. Not sure if it’s by design or I’m just a nervous person. This week’s theme was really interesting as I can’t remember ever creating a dish with the main ingredients being root vegetables. It was yet another challenge I was happy to tackle.

It was not until late Sunday afternoon in sunny Melbourne that I started preparing for this week’s challenge. With spring well and truly here we’ve enjoyed every bit of sunshine we could have. Before that I did some baking for a family friend’s whose daughter turned one during the week. She asked me to bake some biscuits in the form of number one and I was too happy to have a crack at it. We attended the birthday on Saturday afternoon. There were not a lot of people present; five kids in total. I really enjoyed the intimistic nature of the party. We got to talk whilst looking after the kids playing around. And at the said time, the party was over and all the little kiddies were happy to go home with their lolly bag! For once, I didn’t feel like cooking. So we had Thai takeaway for dinner. 

 

Sunday was just as busy. I’ve promised my best friend to go visit her new house, currently under construction. For the occasion we thought that a picnic/bbq would be most appropriate whilst the kids go around the wetlands on their scooter. The trip was a little less than one hour and we were glad to discover their new house and how everything was coming along. It is amazing the memory work one have to do to visualise how everything will look and be placed once the house is ready to move in. They’ve just put the plaster on the walls so they may have to wait a few more months before we get to lock up stage and have their keys in had to move in. So chances are that we may have a few more bbq over there in the future. And as always some fantastic memories will be built.

 

I was happy to read the ingredients for this week’s challenge. Not that I was confident in being able to pull a dish that I’ve previously done. But more because my local veggie markets does sell a lot of root vegetables, and until now I’ve never really dare buy them, unsure how they can be best used. So this challenge provided me with an opportunity to dig deep and look how these root vegetables can be used. When I got to the market I, straight away went to the back of the store where they normally keeps the root vegetables. I just had to decide which one to pick. My choice obviously went on those vegetables I’ve tried separately in the past. Carrots were first in my basket followed by sweet potatoes, parsnips and celeriac. I’ve never tried gold beetroot previously, and being Polish I thought I had to give it a try. I was not much inclined on having potatoes so I went for purple potatoes to taste the difference.

 

Being a gratin I had to choose the cheeses well. I opted for 2 cheeses; the traditional parmesan cheese and a chipotle spice cheese. I also needed bread to create the crumbs for the toppings. Of late, my friend @family.life have taken a habit of baking her own bread at home. She brought a few for the bbq this morning and I was quick to grab the leftovers for my recipe. This dish is known a 100-layer root vegetables gratin. But in reality we don’t quite get to create the hundred layers. Instead we get to appreciate each vegetable separately and collectively with each bite you take once the dish is baked. 

I found an interesting recipe at the Tasting Table site. One important advice they provide for this particular dish is to wait until the very end before you slice the vegetables to assemble the dish. This prevent the vegetables from oxidizing, and turning brown. And more importantly, all these vegetables have an interesting amount of starch, necessary to thicken the cream into a rich sauce that bonds the vegetables together. 

I didn’t expect it to be so tasty but I must admit that I really enjoy it. The first spoon is interesting as you get to distinguish each and every vegetables are you are chewing them. But with the second and subsequent spoons you just get to really enjoy the dish as a whole and just kept on digging for more.

I hope you enjoy it too!

Bon appétit!

And good luck to everyone.

 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 cup coarsely grated Chipotle Spice cheese
• 1 cup coarsely grated Parmesan cheese
• 1½ pounds (4 large) parsnips, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon, plus 2½ teaspoons, kosher salt, divided
• 1½ pounds (1 large) celeriac root, thinly sliced
• 1 pound (3 medium) sweet potatoes, thinly sliced
• 1 pound (3 medium) gold beetroot, thinly sliced
• 1 pound (3 medium) carrots, thinly sliced
• 1 pound (2 medium) purple potatoes, thinly sliced
• 1½ pounds (3 medium) purple sweet potatoes, thinly sliced
• 3 cups heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon thyme leaves
• 2 garlic cloves, finely grated
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 cup (4 ounces) coarse sourdough bread crumbs
• 2 tablespoons roughly chopped parsley, plus more for garnish
• 2 tablespoons roughly chopped sage, plus more for garnish
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Pinch red pepper flakes

 

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 200º C and grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with the butter. In a small bowl, toss the cheeses together and set aside.
 
2. In the greased baking dish, layer the vegetables in overlapping layers to cover the dish. Season with ½ teaspoon of kosher salt and scatter ½ cup of the cheese mixture over top. Continue this process of layering, seasoning and scattering ½ cup of the cheese mixture with the root vegetables. Season with the remaining ½ teaspoon salt. Do not top with any cheese.
                 
3. In a small pan, combine the cream with the remaining 1 tablespoon of salt, the thyme leaves, garlic and black pepper. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, then remove from the heat and pour into the dish over the vegetables. Place a piece of parchment directly over the vegetables and bake until the vegetables are tender when pierced with a paring knife, 45 to 50 minutes.
       
4. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, toss the bread crumbs with the parsley, sage, olive oil and pepper flakes. Remove the baking dish from the oven and discard the parchment. Scatter the remaining 1 cup of grated cheese over the vegetables, followed by the bread crumb mixture. Return to the oven and bake until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes more.
       
5. Remove from the oven and let cool for 20 minutes before cutting. Garnish with garden herbs, then serve.