French Gratin Potatoes

METHOD

• 1
  Peel the potatoes and slice them as thinly as possible. Next, prepare 2 oven-safe pans – one taller, about 25 cm in diameter, and one slightly smaller, of regular height, about 20 cm in diameter.
• 2
  Next, preheat the oven to 170 °C and take a small saucepan. Put butter into the saucepan and melt it over low heat (this will take 2–3 minutes). Pour the melted butter into a larger bowl. Then peel the garlic, press it into the bowl with the butter, add nutmeg, salt, and pepper, and mix. Next, add the sliced potatoes to the bowl and mix again. Arrange the seasoned potatoes into the larger of the prepared pans, pour cream over them, cover the surface of the mixture with baking paper, and place the smaller pan on top to weigh down the potatoes. You can pour dried peas into the top pan to make it even heavier.
• 3
  Place the prepared pans with potatoes into the preheated oven and bake for 60–65 minutes at 165–170 °C. After this time, remove the top pan from the potatoes and peel off the baking paper, increase the oven temperature to 215–220 °C, and bake for another 20–25 minutes, until the potatoes are golden brown on top.
• 4
  Remove the baked potatoes from the oven, cover them again with baking paper, and weigh them down again with the smaller pan. Then transfer them to the refrigerator and let them chill for at least 3 hours.
• 5
  When you want to serve the potatoes, preheat the oven to 180 °C and line a baking sheet with baking paper. Take the chilled potato mixture out of the refrigerator, cut it into 4 portions, place them on the lined baking sheet, and heat in the oven for 5–7 minutes at 180–185 °C. Serve the potatoes immediately after heating.