NYE Dinner

For NYE this year, I wanted to make a special dinner. My friend, Ian, was going to join the boy and me for the meal. I searched the Food Network website and Oh My Goodness, I found a winner. This recipe is in thanks to my dear friend Bobby Flay. This is my first big recipe to put up, so bear with the pictures. After taking them alone (the boy was busy moving), I realized I need some adjustments. First: I will get a non-white cutting board. Second- I will wait until I can have someone take pictures as I work.

You can look at the entire recipe here. I ended up only putting up the potato dish because I had somewhat of a disastrous meal.

1. I clogged my kitchen sink with the potato peels. You could not drain that thing to save your life. The poor garbage disposal just spun and spun to no avail. I started to freak. Ian happened to call during my mental breakdown and he said he did the same thing on Christmas night. He had to use a plunger to unstop it! When Johnny got to my house, he had to spend 20 minutes doing the same thing. I felt really bad because he had spent all day moving and was exhausted. I am sure I was not his favorite person right then. Thanks! Love ya! You're the best!

2. My camera battery died. That is the real reason I could not do pictures of the beef dish. However, it was amazing. The recipe was actually really easy to make and easy to follow. I recommend it to impress your significant other for a birthday/anniversary/random Wednesday.

On to the potatoes...

Onion and Potato Gratin:

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 large Spanish onions (My regular grocery didn't have "Spanish" onions so I just bought "sweet")

2 cloves garlic

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 large potatoes (the only potatoes I could find were small so I bought 8)

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 1/4 cups heavy cream (I used half-and-half)

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley

1 cup grated Gruyere cheese

I like to do my prep first so I can cook more efficiently. This is my adaptation of the recipe.



1. Thinly slice the onions.

2. Chop the garlic. I used my chopper to do it quickly.

3. Peel and thinly slice the potatoes. In my stocking this year, Santa gave me a mandolin. He got it at HEB! It is my new favorite kitchen gadget. 

4. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. 

5. Slowly caramelize the onions. At first, it will seem like a LOT of onions, but they will cook down. You will need to saute the onions for about 25 minutes. It will look like this when it is ready: 

6. Add the garlic and balsamic vinegar and cook for 2 minutes. 

7. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 

8. Butter a 9-inch baking pan. You can just use cooking spray.

9. Place a layer of potatoes on the bottom and season with salt and pepper. Spoon 1/5 of the onion mixture over the potatoes and top with 1/4 cup of the heavy cream and a tablespoon of parsley. 

10. Repeat for 5 layers. Somehow, I ended up with too many ingredients so I think I did 4 layers.

11. Sprinkle the cheese over the top of the potatoes. 

12. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft and the cream has been absorbed. Before I made the recipe, I looked at the reviews and people had recommended to bake for longer. I cooked it for 1 hour 15 minutes. 

We failed to take a "finished" picture because we were too excited and immediately dug in. Here is what it looked like after the beginning of service. Yum!

 Here is a pic of the meal with the beef dish. Amaze.