Potato and Kale Gratin

What a day! My lab ended pretty early because we only had to install strain gauges on our compression and tension samples, which my group finished pretty quickly. That means ... more time to plan dinner!

I figured I should stop spending money on more food and should stare at my fridge for an hour to figure out what I can do with the leftover items. I have cheese, kale, potatoes, carrots, half and half, and onions. Then it occurred to me. I should make gratin. I saw one of my friends have it two weeks ago and was curious to see how to make such a delightful dish.

Apparently, it is just layers of potato chip thin potatoes, kale, and onions with a ton of cheese on top. It sort of reminds me of different soil layers from soil dynamics class.

Potato and Kale Gratin



Ingredients
2 Gold potatoes
1 small Yellow onion
2 stalks Kale
1/2 cup Half and half
1 tbs Unsalted butter
2 spoonsfuls Romano cheese
Garlic powder
Salt and pepper
Note: I used a 12 inch Corningware dish

Prep work
1. Boil water
2. Wash outer surface of potatoes well
3. Use a mandolin slicer to thinly slice the potatoes into potato chip thinness
4. Peel the onion and do the same thing with the onion
5. Remove the stem from the kale and chop into 1 inch squares
6. Put kale in the water and cook for 5 minutes
7. Butter gratin dish with butter
8. Put a layer of potatoes on the bottom of the dish
9. Layer onions then kale
10. Repeat the layering process until potatoes are the final layer.
11. Salt, pepper, garlic powder after every 2 layers.
12. Pour half and half into the dish after layering is finished
13. Salt and pepper the top layer
14. Cut butter into pieces and sprinkle on top with the cheese
15. Preheat the oven for 400F
16. Cover gratin dish with foil

Cooking
1. Cook for 45 minutes covered
2. After 45 minutes, uncover and broil at 500F for 3-5 minutes until the top gets a nice brown crust. (Be sure to not burn the top!)

Well back to homework and studying. Midterm season is coming up!