I am benefiting to the maximum from my stay at my parent’s house back in Lebanon. today recipe is the perfect side dish for your Christmas dinner or lunch.
It is one of my favorites for many reasons:
It is easy
With simple ingredients
Comfort food
Cheesy
Warm
Full of flavors
Perfect side dish with any holiday meal you decide to pair with
A winter wholesome potato tray from heaven with clean organic ingredients from my dad farm. The combination of flavors in the recipe was directly inspired by the produce I found here in my dad farm.
don’t forget to snap a pic and tag me #annacookingconcept when you try out this recipe. I would love to see you creations and hear your feedback.
Creamy potato and sweet potato gratin
A winter wholesome potatoes tray made in heaven. I am making the most from my stay at my parent’s house and using all the fresh ingredients and products from our farm. all potatoes creamy gratin Lebanese style made with goat milk and mum’s homemade cheese.This is the perfect, comforting cheesy dish to add to your holiday feast
Ingredients
- 1 kg White potato washed with skin on
- 500 g Sweet potato washed with skin on
- 1 medium White onion
- 1 head Garlic peeled and washed.
For the sauce:
- 2 tbsp Flour
- 2 tbsp Virgin Olive oil
- 2 cups Goat milk or any milk of your choice
- 1 cup Cheddar shredded.
- 1 cup halloumi shredded.
- 2 tbsp Dry zaatar
- ½ tsp White pepper
- 1 tsp Salt
- ½ tsp Smoked paprika.
- ¼ tsp Nutmeg
- ¼ tsp Black pepper
For the topping:
- ½ cup Shredded halloumi
- ½ cup Crushed kaak *
- 3 tbsp Zaatar mix
To garnish:
- Chopped parsley.
- Zaatar
Instructions
- 2: preheat your oven to 180 C◦ and grease a baking dish (30x20cm) with some olive oil and set aside.
- 3: place sliced potato and sweet potato in three slanted rows. do not overlay them. Add the onion slices and garlic slices in between the rows and on top of the potato.
- 4: time to make the sauce: melt the butter in a sauce a on medium heat once it is completely melted add the flour and vigorously whisk till no more lumps left. Slowly add the milk while whisking and bring the mixture to simmer until it is thickened and have a gravy consistency.
- 5: turn the heat low and stir in the cheddar cheese, zaatar, salt, smoked paprika, nutmeg, and black pepper. Mix it all together and taste if it needs more salt.
- 6: pour the sauce evenly on the potato.
- 7: cover the dish with aluminum foil and put in the oven to bake for 45 minutes.
- 8: after 45 minutes, remove from the oven, spread the cheeses on top and put it back on for an extra 30 minutes until potato are done and have a nice golden-brown color on top.
- 9: remove from the oven and garnish with parsley and zaatar. Enjoy!
Notes
Making ahead: you can make this three days ahead of time and store it in the fridge, just make all the same steps but instead of baking it after pouring the sauce on potato cover with foil and store in the fridge. When you need to bake it add more 15 minutes because the sauce will be cold.
Storing leftovers: You can store any leftovers in the fridge for 5 days.
Variations: i usually prepare this with parsnip, I add to the potato and sweet potato some parsnip slices the same thickness, I highly recommend trying this but I wanted to keep the base recipe simple .
I used zaatar kaak , I found easily here in grocery stores if you do find and use the zaatar kaak don’t add more zaatar to the toppings