Easter Recipe Swap: Scalloped Potatoes

Easter Sunday. Oh, the memories! Like most holidays, my mom always tried to make it special and fun for us kids. To me what stands out the most is waking in the morning to search for my very own special Easter basket that the "Easter Bunny" hid in the house (my parents' version of an Easter Egg Hunt). As we got older, the Easter Bunny got a bit trickier. One year, he actually hid my big sister's basket up high in the living room wall behind the large heating vent!

Because I was a kid, my focus was on the goodies in my basket and not the meal that my mother prepared. But, she usually did make the day special with a good early dinner. Of course, I have dreams of recreating similar memories for my kids, but that really just hasn't happened yet. Ella is now four years old, I've managed a special dinner only on her first Easter when my Dad and brother Jace visited. It just so happens that Easter usually falls on my husband's spring break and he has chaperoned Spring Break trips the past two years. This year he'll be traveling home from the UK with Ella on Easter Sunday again. So, I don't think that I'll be making an Easter feast for me and one-year old Lucie. But, if I WERE to do it, I would definitely make Scalloped Potatoes! Oh, these are super-yummy! The recipe comes from Cook's Illustrated. In the early years of marriage before kids, I had a subscription to their magazine. Some of the recipes are a bit complicated, but I have NEVER been disappointed. This one is not particularly complicated.

Scalloped Potatoes

Source: Cook's Illustrated Magazine, March 2003

Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, minced (about 1 cup)
2 medium garlic cloves, minced (about 2 teaspoons)
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 ¼ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
2 ½ pounds (about 5 medium) russet potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/8 inch thick
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
2 bay leaves
4 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded (1 cup)

Directions:

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Melt butter in large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until foaming subsides. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Add garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper; cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add potatoes, chicken broth, cream and bay leaves and bring to simmer. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until potatoes are almost tender (paring knife can be slipped into and out of potato slice with some resistance) about 10 minutes. Discard bay leaves.
3. Transfer mixture to 8-inch square baking dish; sprinkle evenly with cheese. Bake until cream is bubbling around edges and top is golden brown, about 15 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before serving.