Recipe
2 pounds of russet potatoes 2 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 cups low fat half and half milk
3 cups of low sodium chicken broth 1 cup of sharp cheddar 1 cup of grated pepper jack cheese
4 cloves of finely grated garlic
1 knob of freshly grated ginger
1 red jalapeno crushed (optional) or
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 whole white onion cubed
1 tablespoon of green seasoning
1 teaspoon flour
1 bunch of cilantro
2 stalks of green onions
1 teaspoon of 5 spice
salt and black pepper to taste
Directions
Heat oven to 375 degrees
Get ready to slice…you will have to work fast to avoid the potatoes from turning brown. First prepare a bowl with water to place your sliced potatoes in.
We need to slice our potatoes thin. About ¼ of an inch thin. Peel the potatoes first, and then you slice, and drop it into the bowl of water. If you have a mandolin…then you are set. Use it!
After we slice all of our potatoes, set aside and heat a deep, wide pan on the stove top.
Add the butter to the pan.
Once the butter has started to melt, add the chopped/cubed onions to it. Let this fry until it is just translucent. Add in the ginger, garlic, green seasoning and red jalapeno. Stir and let fry for 45 seconds.
You kitchen will start to smell great! Add in your flour and let this cook for 4 minutes, while continuing to stir.
Add in the chicken broth, cook for 2 minutes. It will start to thicken. Add in your milk, along with the all spice, salt, black pepper, pepper flakes, chopped green onion. Mix together. Once your mixture starts to thicken again and coat to the back of your spoon, add in ½ cup of sharp cheddar and ½ cup of pepper jack cheese. Once they have melted turn off the stove. (I use pepper Jack as it has an extra kick. If you cannot handle spicy use another cheese)
Drain the water from your potatoes and toss in the chopped cilantro and salt and black pepper. Mix well.
Use a deep, wide baking pan for this. Start my ladling in on the bottom of the pan some of the cheese sauce mixture. Enough to coat the bottom of the pan, layer in your potatoes as show in the picture.
Add some more sauce to cover the first layer of potatoes, then more sauce…and so on until all is gone or your pan is full.
If you are making this a day ahead, this is where you saran wrap your pan and place in the refrigerator until you are ready to bake. (I do this for thanksgiving, make the night ahead and bake the next day; otherwise my feet will just fall off with all the cooking and standing I would have to do in one day)
However if you are eating the same day, layer the rest of your cheese on top, cover with tin foil and place that baby in the oven for 45 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender. Once it is tender, remove the tin foil and turn the oven up to 400 degrees. This will give it a nice golden brown top…mouthwatering!
Now I want you to toss out that boxed scalloped potatoes…Never again.
