Potatoes au Gratin From Todd Coleman

Author Notes

A potato gratin that cooks in half the time, can be made ahead, and—best of all—lets you have control all the way through. "This is the kind of food you close your eyes to eat," our Social Media Manager Rachel Christensen said, after tasting the gratin pictured here, made exactly as written. But the extra flexibility and control also makes it adaptable -- something we'd be reluctant to do in the black box of traditional gratinery. Coleman sometimes adds hot sauce or fresh thyme, or uses a Dutch oven to make it truly one-pot and oven-to-table. You can switch in a different type of potatoes, dairy, or allium, if that's what you have. And if you don't have the right size pan, you can scale up without worry. Or down -- but why would you do that? Adapted slightly from "Gratin Made Easy" (Saveur, December 2006). —Genius Recipes

Test Kitchen Notes

There are two things we think of when talking about potatoes au gratin: that they're creamy, cheesy, and oh-so delicious; and that they take absolutely forever to make (we're talking two hours in some cases).

Luckily, this Genius-approved recipe from Todd Coleman hits all the right marks in terms of flavor and texture (there is a melty-crisp layer of cheese on top, the sauce is thick and luscious, and the potatoes are soft, but not too soft), while cutting down the normal cook time by about half. How does it work? The trick is simple, but brilliant: par-boil the potatoes in a mixture of half-and-half, garlic paste, and butter to soften them and add flavor at the same time. When you do it this way, you only have to bake the potatoes in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes.

Yet another reason to add this potatoes au gratin to your list (in case we haven't convinced you already): It's totally make ahead-friendly. You can prepare the mixture up to the point of baking and keep it in the fridge (yes, even overnight) until you're ready to toss it in the oven. The only thing you'll want to do is let the gratin cook a touch longer in the oven if it's been chilled. Make it during the holidays, make it for dinner parties, make it on random weeknights, no matter what you do just make it. —The Editors