Potatoes au gratin - happy once, happy twice

Van Gogh, The Potato Harvest.

Dad and Linda got into town yesterday, on their way down to snowbird in El Centro, so I had an excuse to roast a huge chicken (the remains of which are now gently bubbling in ambrosial broth on the viking), and since it was cool - halleluja - I wanted a nice fall sort of dish to go with.

Enter potatoes au gratin - definitely party food, and not the sort of thing sane people would eat every day! I made a large casserole dish and since we have almost half of it left, we will be happy twice when we have them for a drool-delishous lunch today with a green salad and some french bread (the better to mop up the sauce, my dear).

I am also taking them to my beloved 99 Ranch Market to buy lobsters for a lobster feast tonight that I've been promising Linda since June when she wasn't able to make it to the joint graduation lobster mayhem. Lobbies are $11 a pound right now - get out the butter and cover the table with newspaper!

99 also has boneless new york steaks on sale for $2.99 a pound and I will be putting plenty of those into my long-suffering freezer, and who knows what else wonderful we will find today. The best part is getting the folks to go somewere REALLY different than the sort of place they would usually go. Wonder if I can get them to eat sweet and sour squid in the cafeteria????

To make the potatoes I sliced up one onion, thin, and mixed it with about 6 large peeled russets also sliced thin. I don't like to peel potatoes as a rule because that is where most of the potassium is, but it does seem to make a difference for this dish. Butter a large casserole dish, layer in the potatoes and onions. Make a roux in a sauce pan with half butter, half flour, in the usual way, in an amount that will cover all of the potatoes nicely. Add milk and whisk until bubbling nicely. Add several cups of grated cheddar, several good grinds of pepper and kosher or sea salt to taste. Pour over the potatoes, cook in a 400 degree oven for about an hour and fifteen minutes. You will need to filch a potato or two near the end to check for doneness. This is essential.

The gratin should be nice and bubbly, slightly browned and smell ambrosial. Let it sit for a couple of minutes before serving with the roasted chicken, baby peas and onions, and a nice green salad. Groan repeatedly for a half an hour after eating, and then follow with apple pie - ala mode, of course.