Pronto Nacho Potatoes
This twist on Potatoes Au Gratin is fun and easy. Expect the kids to ask for seconds. It can be basic (potatoes + cheese) or deluxe (personalize with your favorite nacho type toppings)
This twist on Potatoes Au Gratin is fun and easy. Expect the kids to ask for seconds. It can be basic (potatoes + cheese) or deluxe (personalize with your favorite nacho type toppings)
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 40 ouces potatoes; sliced (pre-packaged homestyle ver
- 4 tablespoon rice flour substitute whatever flour you have on hand
- 4 tablespoon butter, unsalted if using salted butter be sure to reduce the salt to taste
- 0.25 tsp pepper (to taste)
- 2 c milk i used skim, anything more will result in an even creamier sauce
- 8 oz cheese, shredded this is loaded, use as little as half if you wish
- 1 can cream of mushroom soup 15 oz (or alternate flavor i.e. cream of potato)
- 4 tablespoons sour cream optional
- Carbohydrate 11.4647568773012 g
- Cholesterol 23.3673437860424 mg
- Fat 10.7042600133321 g
- Fiber 0.31706250667572 g
- Protein 3.23871562675566 g
- Saturated Fat 5.72401519584539 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (146g)
- Sodium 271.532406271873 mg
- Sugar 11.1476943706255 g
- Trans Fat 1.42357206350963 g
- Calories 153 calories
Step-by-step
- Preheat oven to 350 degreees.
- In a saute pan, melt butter and whisk in flour, salt and pepper to taste* at medium heat.
- Continue to stir/whisk regularly while it comes to a boil and give it another couple of minutes to thicken nicely.
- Stir in the soup and half the cheese (adding it all at once makes it too thick to stir).
- Gently fold 1/2 of the potato slices (1 20-oz. package) to coat them with the cheesy sauce.
- * If not using Taco Cheese (a combo of Colby & Monterey Jack with seasoning already in the package), you will need to add some additional spices in to jazz it.
- Add in the rest of the cheese and stir until cheese is melted.
- Grease a casserole dish 10x13 or 11x13 and empty the other package of plain potatoes into the dish.
- Pour the cheesy glop of potatoes on top.
- Cover with Foil
- Heat for 20-30 minutes at 350...to heat it through.
- Remove Foil and heat for an additional 10 minutes for some browning to occur.
- Hearty appetites can add a dollop of sour cream or even guacamole.
Undercooked starches ruin many potato gratins because home cooks rely solely on fixed timer durations rather than physical transformation. Potatoes contain rigid cellular walls packed with raw starch granules that refuse to soften unless exposed to sustained moist heat. Raw centers crunch audibly when pierced, signaling that the interior structure requires additional conversion time.
Creating the roux requires constant mechanical agitation over medium heat to cook out the raw flour taste while binding butter fats. Whisking milk directly into the hot fat-flour matrix disperses starch molecules evenly, preventing lumps from forming as the dairy heats. Adding half the cheese initially moderates viscosity, allowing the sauce to flow smoothly before the remaining dairy thickens the emulsion.
Visual cues dictate doneness far better than arbitrary clocks when baking dense casseroles at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Foil traps steam during the initial twenty to thirty minutes, softening the sliced tubers thoroughly throughout the 10x13 dish. Removing that protective barrier for the final ten minutes exposes the surface to dry oven heat, generating volatile flavor compounds through browning reactions while evaporating excess moisture.
Swapping processed convenience items for raw kitchen staples fundamentally alters cooking kinetics and moisture retention. Freshly sliced russets release considerable surface water during baking, whereas pre-packaged varieties often undergo treatments that modify starch hydration rates. Adjusting baking durations slightly compensates for these moisture variances, ensuring consistent texture regardless of the potato source utilized.
