Recipe Swap: Strip House Potatoes Romanoff

These potatoes were, in the name sake of my recipe swap partner for the week, DeLish!  My husband went in for second servings (shhh, nobody tell him that there's a good helping of sour cream in this dish!) and we easily cleaned out half of the casserole dish (supposedly 6 servings) between the two of us.

It's a bit time consuming to make with the pre-baking of the potatoes prior to the final casserole assembly and bake but cheesy flavor is amazingly comforting.  I'm sure in a rush you could substitute hash brown potatoes and go straight for the final bake.  I may try that in the future but if someone else gets to it first please let me know how it goes.

I baked my potatoes and assembled the casserole in the same day (still allowing to cool to room temperature first).  My potatoes were on the small side since they came from my farm share and probably could have benefited from a reduced pre-baking time to shred more easily.  I did not have white cheddar so used a combination of sharp cheddar and some leftover three cheddar cheese (which, I guess technically has *some* white cheddar in it).  In lieu of shallots which I forgot to buy I just used a medium onion and 2 garlic cloves.  Also, I cut back the salt to 1.5 tsp but still found it to be a little too salty.  Might scale it back to a single teaspoon in the future.  I used fat free sour cream with success to trim some calories.  I'm sure hubby will be asking for this dish again!

Please visit A Taste of Home Cooking for the swap roundup and check out the equally cheesy and comforting Stovetop Mac and Cheese recipe (my go-to!) that I submitted and Hezzi D's Books and Cooks recieved in this week's swap.

Strip House Potatoes Romanoff

Yields: 6 Servings


Ingredients

• 3 large russet potatoes, about 2 lb. total, unpeeled and scrubbed  
• 3/4 cup minced shallots  (I used a medium onion and 2 cloves garlic, which I grated on the small side of the grater)
• 2 1/2 cups grated white cheddar cheese (I used 1 & 1/2 cups sharp and three cheese cheddar)
• 2 tsp. kosher salt (I used 1.5 tsp but would recommend trying 1 tsp)
• 1/4 tsp. freshly ground white pepper 
• 1 1/2 cups sour cream (I used fat free)

Directions

1. Wrap each potato in aluminum foil and pierce several times with a fork. Place the potatoes directly on the oven rack and bake until tender, about 1 hour. Remove the foil and let the potatoes cool to room temperature. Place the potatoes on a plate, wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
2. The next day, preheat the oven to 350ºF. 
3. Using the large holes of a box grater, grate the potatoes, including the skins. Transfer to a bowl and sprinkle the shallots, 1 3/4 cups of the cheese, the salt and white pepper on top. Using your hands, gently toss the mixture together to combine, then fold in the sour cream in 2 additions. 
4. Transfer the potato mixture to a 1 1/2-quart gratin dish; do not compress. Sprinkle the remaining 3/4 cup cheese on top. Bake until the potatoes are hot and the cheese is golden brown, about 30 minutes. 

Source: Originally from Strip House as seen on DeLish