Home Cooking with the Chefs of Commerce Café

Join us once a month as we share the recipes our chefs love to make at home for their families. Each recipe will have ingredients sourced in Lockhart and will be easy to make with limited equipment in your own home.

This month’s Chef: Sarah Heard.

Heard is a Lockhart graduate, mom of a spunky 12-year-old /carb lover, and she was named Austin Chef of the Year by Culture Map 2021.

“Gratin is one of the things that I get most excited about as we enter the cooler months.,” Heard said. “It’s versatile, you can use any cheese you’d like that melts well, and even the potatoes can be swapped out for any sliceable root vegetable. I really like this recipe with nutty rutabaga when it’s in season. This dish goes well with pork chops, steaks, and chicken. The gratin is almost better when reheated as leftovers too.”

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Potato Gratin with Cheddar

400g cheddar, or your favorite cheese, thickly shredded

4 pounds potato

1.5 cups heavy cream

6 whole eggs

1/4 cup sugar

2 TBS salt

1TBS thyme leaves

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1TBS black pepper

1TBS garlic, minced

– – –

* preheat your oven to 350

* spray a 9X13 glass casserole pan liberally with pan spray 

* peel and slice your potatoes into rounds, about the width of a nickel and set aside

* mix together, whisked eggs, 300g cheese, cream, sugar, salt, nutmeg, pepper, and garlic

* add the sliced potato to the cream mixture and mix to coat all slices. 

* layer slices into the sprayed pan 

* pour any remaining liquid over the top of the sliced potato and press slices down to make sure that they are tightly layered. 

* sprinkle the top with the remaining cheese and bake for 2 hours or until a knife goes into the middle of the pan with little pressure

* enjoy!