Cooking big and for little money is an art nowadays. If you have a hungry family “on your neck”, here is one possible cheap dinner!
“If there is no money, then there must be enough imagination,” our grandmothers used to say. And they were right. Therefore, their menu consisted of various soups, porridges and any spread variants that were from what was found in the fridge.
“Our generation grew up on soups, pâtés, spreads, lunches and egg breads,” recalls forty-five-year-old reader Vlasta, who adds in one breath that what once satisfied children’s hungry throats no longer applies today…
The author of the video, RecipeTin Eats shows you how to prepare the iconic French dish Potatoes Au Gratin. More on the channel YouTube.com.
Source: Youtube
The spread is not “going” very well today
“So you can help the children with the spread one evening a week. Then not only the children, but also the husband, who likes meat, and some bread with cottage cheese, egg or fish tapenade will not satisfy him. And you know what guys are like when they’re hungry!” smiles Vlasta. There are many Czechs in a similar situation as her, who think about what they would give their family for dinner before they get paid. And complete salvation (except for soups) is baked vegetables.
One pot specialty
“I love dishes from one baking pan, because I put everything I have in there, then grate cheese on top and it looks wonderful,” agrees another of the readers, Petra from Příbrami, who also deals with cheap dinners. Among her sure bets is a tried-and-tested recipe for potato gratin prepared by her friend from France. The secret of this dish, known in its homeland as Potatoes Au Gratin, is thinly sliced potatoes in a cheese sauce. Definitely worth tasting!
Slicing potatoes
Before you start working, preheat the oven to 190°C. Then cut a kilo of potatoes into slices. “So that you don’t have to do it tediously with a knife, use a mandolin slicer, for example. It will save you a lot of time and effort!” recommends Petra, adding that the uniformity of the potato slices has two advantages. On the one hand, the pieces look good, but it’s also about being evenly heat treated. That’s why you can’t have one piece of potato soft and the other as hard as a sole.
Onion and garlic game
Layer the thin potato slices on a greased baking sheet. Meanwhile, heat the butter in a pan and fry 1 chopped onion and 2 crushed garlic cloves. Once the onion turns translucent, add 2 tablespoons of plain flour and stir until the mixture starts to brown. Then add ¼ teaspoon of pepper, ½ teaspoon of salt, 1 and ½ of milk and beat until the mixture thickens. After three minutes, add 1 cup grated cheddar and ¼ cup Grana Padano cheese. Stir the resulting sauce until the cheeses melt.
Baking time
Pour the mixture into the baking dish with layered potatoes and bake for 90 minutes. “I recommend baking the potatoes covered for the first hour. Leave the bag until the last half hour. Thanks to this, the food will be pleasantly crispy on the surface,” recommends Petra. Just cut the baked potatoes into portions and serve, for example, with a fresh leafy salad. Yum!
Sources: https://www.recipetineats.com, https://www.allrecipes.com
