Renaissance by Reyes 2013 Sauvignon Blanc and Au Gratin Potatoes
By Beth P. Heiserman
Comfort food sure helps us through this tough time. Comfort food should offer solace or a feeling of well-being, and sometimes memories of childhood. My mom would prepare this delicious dish with roast chicken and givetch, a Romanian mixed vegetable dish.
This week, I have been going through these special dishes and preparing them for us. I have been wondering what if my mom were here to be going through this with us and what she would do. I do know that we still have cleaning supplies that she purchased, and she has been gone for three years now. Every time I finish one and open another, I think of her. She was always afraid to run out.
Right now, most of us are cooking from our pantry and not shopping for ingredients to make a recipe. Most of us seem to have access to vegetables at the market fairly easy like potatoes and onions. Slowly, I have seen more items like flour and milk. Even yesterday, we went shopping and my dad and I were so excited we saw several aisles of paper towels.
The hardest part of the recipe is waiting for it took bake while you smell the fantastic aromas. I love to eat these, but most recipes tend to be very fattening, so I have altered it slightly to make it low fat. You can’t skimp on the cheese, but you can on the milk.
Ingredients
3 tsp of butter
3 tsp of flour
4 medium sized creamer potatoes
1 onion, sliced thinly
3 cloves of garlic, minced
¼ cup Reyes 2013 Sauvignon Blanc
2 ½ cups non fat milk
1 ½ tsp of kosher salt
2 tsp of white pepper
1 tsp nutmeg
2 cups of cheddar cheese, shredded (I use Lakeland or Dubliner cheddar)
3 potatoes, sliced very thinly
1/4 cup of panko crumbs
Directions
- Melt butter in large sauce pan.
- Sauté onions until they have some color, but still slightly hard. (about 7-10 minutes)
- Add garlic; continue to sauté for 2 minutes.
- Add ¼ cup of Reyes 2013 Sauvignon Blanc
- Remove onions and garlic.
- If the pan needs more butter add another 2 tbsp of butter.
- Whisk in flour until combined.
- Whisk non-fat milk until blended. Then cook for 5 minutes and slowly whisk in 2013 Sauvignon Blanc.
- Add salt, white pepper, nutmeg and parsley
- Continue to cook until thick.
- Turn off heat.
- Add cheese slowly and continue to whisk until combined.
- Spray non stick cooking spray into a 9×9 baking pan.
- thinly slice potatoes with the skin on.
- Spread mixture into dish.
- Sprinkle Panko bread crumbs on Casserole.
- Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes covered with aluminum foil.
- Bake 10 minutes uncovered.
- Serve with a glass of 2013 Renaissance by Reyes Sauvignon Blanc. Cheers!