This carrot and potato gratin is a tasty, low fuss side dish which will go perfectly with your roast dinner.
I love dauphinoise potatoes, and my Welsh Style Potato Dauphinoise (Potato au Gratin) are a frequent visitor to my Sunday dinner table. However, sometimes you just want to lower the effort – while not ending up with less taste.
This carrot and potato gratin combines two of your roast dinner vegetables in one dish, so you don’t have as much to do. Winner! It’s also extremely forgiving- cover in foil and it can blip away in the oven for up to two hours, so you can get on with other things.
You’ll end up with perfectly soft and buttery carrots and potatoes, topped with crispy cheese. Try it with your next Roast Beef Dinner with Yorkshire Puddings or Greek Style Roast Chicken and Vegetables – you’ll love it.
The Ingredients
- Carrots and potatoes – 8 medium potatoes and 4 large carrots make enough for 6 people as a side dish. You will need white potatoes (the same as you would use for roast potatoes), and – bonus! – you don’t need to bother peeling them.
- Butter – we don’t use cream in this gratin, just butter. A little butter dotted through each of the layers is enough to cook the vegetables without making them soggy.
- Cheese – any good melting cheese will work. I used mature cheddar.
- Salt and pepper – I don’t usually list salt and pepper as separate ingredients in my recipes, but it’s worth listing them here. You need a sprinkle of salt and pepper between each of the layers. In most cases, the reason for a failed gratin is lack of seasoning.
Top Tips
- Use tin foil Make sure you don’t skip the instruction to cover your dish with tin foil. This ensures that the vegetables steam, letting them cook through without burning.
- Cutting the vegetables Try to make sure that your potato and carrot slices are a fairly equal thickness. You’re aiming for about 3-4mm.
- Cooking the gratin The recipe below can be adjusted – gratin is very forgiving. Keep in the oven for longer at a lower temperature if you like (just check on it every so often to make sure it’s not burning). It will also stay warm out of the oven, covered in foil, for at least 30 minutes.
Carrot and Potato Gratin
Ingredients
- 8 medium white potatoes
- 4 large carrots
- 50 grams butter
- 100 grams grated cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
- Slice two of the potatoes and one of the carrots into 3-4mm slices. Layer these slices over the base of a large ovenproof dish. Dot 10g butter over the top and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Repeat 3 times – so that you have four layers. On the top layer, dot 20g butter rather than 10g and sprinkle over the grated cheese.
- Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 50 minutes. Remove the foil and cook for a further 10 minutes until golden and soft.
More side dishes for roast dinners:
- Creamy Bread Sauce
- Classic Braised Red Cabbage
- Potato Gratin with Pancetta
- The Best Cauliflower Cheese
- Welsh Style Potato Dauphinoise (Potato au Gratin)
- Creamy Potato and Leek Gratin
- Incredible Truffle Mash
- The Most Incredible Stir Fried Kale
