Potato Leek Pizza

This is yet another Pioneer Woman recipe (I just realized it is only in her cookbook, not her website so I can't link you to it, but I can link you to the recipe for the dough), so I may have a slight obsession, but everything she makes is just so good. Potato pizza is one of those trendy things (keep in mind I am basing this solely on extensive viewing of food network and foodgawker, I have no idea what the actual trends in the world may be, I pretty much only go to restaurants for happy hour because I heart half price appetizers and am poor) that probably wont pop up on any happy hour menus around here for awhile, so I had to take matters into my own hands. Boy was I glad I did, it is delicious. Of course the fact that it has 3 different kinds of cheese, bacon and leeks on it as well as the potatoes doesn't hurt. It is surprisingly filling, and the potatoes combined with the cheese give the pizza a sort of deconstructed creamy white sauce kind of effect, which is quite tasty.

Start with the bacon. I hate to fry bacon so I always bake it, just lay it on a cooling rack on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 until it reaches the desired crispiness (I like it really crispy).

Next start on the leeks, I am always a bit obsessive when I clean leeks but I feel it is justified because have you seen the crap that comes out of them?

Once the leeks have been completely cleaned, saute them in the bacon pan (since I didn't fry my bacon I just scooped some grease out from the cookie sheet and cooked them in that).

Now it's time to start the assembly process. I used PW's pizza dough recipe, but use whatever dough you like, I would have used Trader Joe's dough but I didn't want to drive all the way over there and we didn't have any at home.

First layer on the potatoes. I used my mandolin on the thinnest setting, if I didn't have that I have no idea what I would have done, as my knife skills are basically nonexistent. Also, PW calls for 5 potatoes, I only used one large one on this pizza, but as you can see it covered the whole thing.

Next put the fresh mozzarella. You must use fresh, it makes it so lovely and creamy. It doesn't look like much but it will ooze out and with everything else you put on this thing it is plenty.

Now top the cheese with the bacony leeks, they add such a nice mild oniony flavor.

Finish it off with the bacon crumbles, goat cheese and some parmesan.

Bake until the crust is golden and the cheese is melted.

Gratin Dauphinois

My lovely uncle gave me Mastering the Art of French Cooking, volumes one and two for christmas this year, which I am very excited about, and just HAD to cook something from right away. I picked scalloped potatoes, as they are delicious and I would get to use my new little mandolin to slice the potatoes, thus making it a win-win-win situation. I don't know if my proportions of things was slightly off, or if this is just the way the French do it, but these potatoes are not as saucy as the ones from the box. Not that that is a bad thing, you could actually taste the potatoey goodness that is practically obliterated by the boxed sauce. If you need a saucier potato to be happy, you could up the milk and cheese and that would probably do it, although I have not tried this myself so I cannot vouch for it.

First, convince someone to peel 2 pounds of potatoes for you (I hate peeling potatoes).

Slice said potatoes 1/8 inch thick and put them in cold water until you need them. Note my new toy, it made slicing them quite easy once I got the hang of it, the first potato somehow shot all the way down the counter while I was attempting to slice it.

While your potatoes hang out, rub 1/2 a clove of garlic all around your baking dish, then do the same with 1 tablespoon of butter.

Dry the potatoes and spread half of them in the bottom of the dish. Season with salt and pepper.

Sprinkle the slices with 1/2 cup grated swiss.

Add some butter and then repeat with the second half the the potatoes.

Pour a cup of hot milk over the whole mess and then stick it on a hot burner until it simmers (in my personal opinion there was not enough liquid to actually simmer, so i just guessed at when it was ready)

Pop it in the oven until the potatoes are tender and the milk has been absorbed.

Gratin Dauphinois (from Mastering the Art of French Cooking)

2 pounds potatoes

1/2 clove unpeeled garlic

4 tbs butter

1 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

1 cup swiss cheese, grated

1 cup boiling milk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Peel potatoes and slice them 1/8 inch thick, put in cold water.

Rub baking dish (10 inches in diameter and 2 inches deep) with garlic, smear with 1 tablespoon butter.

Drain potatoes and dry them, spread half in the bottom of the baking dish. Sprinkle over half the salt, pepper, cheese and butter. Repeat with the remaining potatoes.

Pour over the boiling milk, then set the baking dish over heat and when simmering place in oven.

Bake 20-30 minutes or until the potatoes are tender, the milk has been absorbed and the top is browned.