Mum's famous potato gratin

For 4 servings

1kg of potatoes (for gratin)

2 garlic cloves

salt, pepper, nutmeg

4-5dl of cream

1 pack of grated cheese (Only use Gruyère or similar and not Emmental)

1  big gratin form

I only tried this recipe a couple of years ago... Since my mother always made the best gratin in the world I have always been a bit scared of trying it. But she gave me the secret recipe which I tried and I could have just lied into this gratin... it was so incredibly delicious. And trust me, if you try this recipe, get ready for quite a lot of compliments and silence at your dining table - you know what I mean! This gratin goes perfect with any meat. Whether it's a nice steak, some lamb racks, it just completes every meal. So get ready for it!

Pre-heat the oven at 200C. Please note that this takes about 1h - 1.5h. So if you don't have too much time, you can blanch the potatoes prior putting them in the oven.  So the quick version is: Peel the potatoes, cut them in thin (about 2-3mm) slices and cook them in some salted water until al dente.  For the "slow" version you just peal & cut the potatoes as described above but don't cook them. I always do it that way. It works perfectly fine, even if you don't have too much time.

Then put the cut potatoes into a big bowl (whether cooked or not), add all ingredients (salt, pepper, nutmeg, cream, 2 pressed garlic cloves and the grated cheese) and mix it all with your hands until all potato slices are covered with it all. Then take your gratin form and rub it in with quite a lot of butter. When done fill in the potatoes into your gratin form and shove it into the oven. Et voilà! Now you count about 1h-1.5h if you didn't blanch the potatoes before, and if you did about 30min less. Always check your oven to check how "tanned" your gratin is. In case the color gets too intense just turn down the temperature to about 150C. You might also want to prepare some bouillon in case you see that your potatoes are getting a bit dry. This can happen depending on the sort of potatoes. Never happened to me (touch wood...) since the cream & the right potatoes always made it right. Lucky me!

Ok, that's about all the magic you need to know to make THE perfect potato gratin. Check for some nice meat recipes along with this delicious side dish. Bon appétit!

Wine recommendation: Some nice, heavy red wine with a taste of dark berries. My all-time favorite red wine for meat is the "Primitivo 60' anni" or the Shiraz from Peter Lehmann.

Music recommendation: Marco di Marco (at Carnegie Hall), Nat King Cole, Dean Martin