Cookaholics Bulletin Board

The recipe in the new CI looks wonderful. I watched the video and decided it was perfect for these February days.
I did find celery root at one of our better grocers.
I'll cut the recipe in half or else it would be too much.
Recipe here:

Root Vegetable Gratin

From Cook's Illustrated | March/April 2015

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Why this recipe works:

Our root vegetable gratin pairs the earthy flavor of potatoes with thinly sliced sweet rutabaga and savory celery root. We allow these flavors to come to the fore by adding just a few aromatics: onion, garlic, thyme, and Dijon mustard. We add white wine to the gratin because the wine’s acidity… read more
Root Vegetable Gratin
Root vegetables add complex flavor to the all-potato classic, but how do you get the different types to cook evenly? A glass of wine helps.

Watch the Video
Serves 6 to 8

Uniformly thin slices are necessary for a cohesive gratin. We recommend a mandoline for quick and even slicing, but a sharp chef’s knife will also work. Because the vegetables in the gratin are tightly packed into the casserole dish, it will still be plenty hot after a 25-minute rest.
Ingredients

1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
Salt and pepper
2/3 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 onion, chopped fine
1 1/4 teaspoons minced fresh thyme
1 garlic clove, minced
2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and sliced lengthwise 1/8 inch thick
1 large celery root (1 pound), peeled, quartered, and sliced 1/8 inch thick
1 pound rutabaga, peeled, quartered, and sliced 1/8 inch thick
3/4 cup panko bread crumbs
1 1/2 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated (3/4 cup)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Instructions

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 13 by 9-inch baking dish. Whisk 1 tablespoon water, mustard, flour, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt in medium bowl until smooth. Add wine, cream, and remaining 1 1/2 cups water; whisk to combine. Combine onion, thyme, garlic, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in second bowl.

2. Layer half of potatoes in prepared dish, arranging so they form even thickness. Sprinkle half of onion mixture evenly over potatoes. Arrange celery root and rutabaga slices in even layer over onions. Sprinkle remaining onion mixture over celery root and rutabaga. Layer remaining potatoes over onions. Slowly pour water mixture over vegetables. Using rubber spatula, gently press down on vegetables to create even, compact layer. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 50 minutes. Remove foil and continue to bake until knife inserted into center of gratin meets no resistance, 20 to 25 minutes longer.

3. While gratin bakes, combine panko, Parmesan, and butter in bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove gratin from oven and sprinkle evenly with panko mixture. Continue to bake until panko is golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes longer. Remove gratin from oven and let stand for 25 minutes. Serve.

Gratins can take a looong time to bake. Be sure to check that the vegetables are soft and don't depend on the recipe times.

Yes, I noticed when watching the video for the recipe that it looked like the overall time, including the resting time, approached two hours.

I'be been reading a Jo Nesbo book. We're having meatballs and rutabega for dinner tonight. Your gratin sounds wonderful.

fitzie

I won't get to it today, maybe tomorrow or Wednesday I hope.
I'll let you know how it turns out.

Aha! the Root Vegetable Gratin was a very big success as it was really delicious. However, it was a bit tedious to make, what with all the slicing. And I discovered that those 'no cut' gloves do not necessarily protect you from cuts! The rutabaga was very hard and I managed to run the side of my little finger into the blade and it cut right through the glove and into the finger. Very big OW and it still hurts.

We love rutabega and have it frequently. I've never tried to slice it and doubt my 20+ year old Beni would do a very good job of it. I make potato gratins frequently and it works fine on those. It must have been quite a chore. The recipe sounds delicious ... think I'll save it for some extra special company.

fitzie

Perhaps this would be a good use of the slicing disk for the food processor? If you have one, of course.

Indeed, Becky! Now why didn't I think of that? With the FP I can make the recipe again without much of the labor; it really was worth the effort since it was so good.
I think I have every type blade ever made for my FP; I bought a whole set on ebay ages ago for not much money, most of them I've never even used.

Linda
CI had a summer gratin dish a while back that was very good. I did not follow instructions but did everything in the fp. I suggest you get your discs out and sacrifice a potato or an apple and run them through all the slicing discs you have. That way you can mark the one that gives you the correct slice on the recipe. There are quite a few slicers for the Cuisinart. In case you do have one, here's what I have in my Living Cookbook, some are my descriptions and some are from a post in TOBB (can't remember whose.

ULTRA-THIN SLICING DISC - 1 mm=1/25" - DLC-041 (Great for homemade potato chips)
STANDARD SLICING DISC - 4mm=1/6" - DLC 044TX
EXTRA THICK SLICING DISC - 8 mm=⅓" - DLC-048TX
THIN SLICING DISC - 2 mm=1/12" DLC-042
FRENCH FRY CUT DISC-6 x 6 mm=¼" cross section-DLC-036TX (Use it for the best homemade french fries from JOC)
FINE GRATER DISC-DLC 035TX ( I wonder if this would work for the butter in the blueberry scones.)
MEDIUM SHREDDING DISC - DLC-037TX

PS, I have a 14 cup, so the model numbers fit 14 cup machines.