This is one of the dishes reminding me of childhood
I didn't like many dishes that my mom made when I was a child, as she always seemed to enjoy cooking exotic dishes more, while I was the most horrible eater you can imagine as a child. That often caused frustration and me refusing to eat what she prepped.
There were a few things that I enjoyed when she made them, this oven dish is one of them. When growing up, I always thought this was a special dish taking a lot of time to prep, but I know now that this was mainly caused by the fact that she never cooked the potatoes before slicing them, which makes a huge difference time-wise.
Fun fact:
It was only until a few years ago, when I first prepped this oven dish myself, that I learned that the smell I've always registered in my head as "That favorite oven dish my mom used to make" was nothing more than the smell of a lot of black pepper. Can you imagine that I didn't even know that the smell was coming from pepper? Crazy, but true!
The ingredients
- For me and my daughter, I usually use 5 potatoes, or 3 if they are bigger sized. I often end up with too many potatoes, but rather have extra than not enough.
- Old Amsterdam cheese - You can use any over-ripe cheese you prefer but don't use a younger or mild one as the taste of ripe cheese is the taste you want in this dish. I have tried it with a younger one it was not worth prepping. Since I have a grater, I never buy grated cheese anymore, but for your convenience, you can choose to do so. Then I'd advise 2 packs of grated over-ripe cheese.
- 2 eggs
- Milk
- Black pepper
- Salt
Step by step
I start by peeling the potatoes and boil water for them while doing so. Once the water boils, usually I can cook the potatoes right away. I cut them in half with the reason that I can easily slice them once they're a bit cooked.
If you don't cook them first, you will have to be patient until the dish is done, I remember that often it took another 30 minutes depending on how thick my mother left the potato slices.
Once they're halfway done (don't over cook them!) you can now turn on the oven at 200 degrees while you're letting the potatoes cool off a bit. If I don't do that, I always burn my fingers, so while the oven heats up, I let them cool off for at least 15 minutes.
Once they're easy to handle, cut the potatoes in slices, I just go with the flow and often some potatoes end up being sliced really nice and thin, while others end up a bit ticker. As they are being cooked before they are placed in the oven, it will be fine, even the thicker ones. I start covering the baking tin with potato slices until the tin is covered (1 layer at a time).
After I placed the first layer in the tin, I grate the cheese. I never grate the whole cheese at once, but check if I need more along the way. I use a coarse grater for this cheese.
On top of every layer of potatoes, I cover them with the grated cheese and then I add some salt (I love using sea salt) and quite a lot of black pepper. Don't be shy adding the pepper, I really think it's such a nice combination. Now repeat the process until you run out of ingredients. Usually I have three or four layers in total.
We won't place them in the oven "dry" like my grandma did once when she tried to copy my moms recipe when I was a child. We laughed about the result for many years (still do), so never forget this part.. :)
I always start with one egg in a cup, add some milk and beat it up until it's fully mixed. Sometimes (depending on the size of the egg) one egg is enough, but usually, I end up using two of them. Poor this "sauce" on top of the potatoes once you've placed all the other ingredients in the baking tin.
By now, the oven is heated enough, and I set the alarm at 30 minutes at first, to check if the potatoes are soft enough and if I like the top layer enough, as it needs to have this yummy cheese layer on top of it.
If it's not done yet, just check again every 10 minutes. Usually, a small dish for 2 people is done within 30 minutes, but the more layers you add, the longer it takes.
The end result
Enjoy your meal!