Onion and Potato Gratin #LidiasRecipes #LidiasItaly #ItalianFood

Cipolla e patate gratinate. There's no place better to be than at the table with some good food, with family, friends, whomever, neighbors. And there's nothing that pleases more people than some baked potatoes in some form. And here I will teach you sort of a potato au gratin. A little bit of oil, and I'll put this onion, I'll begin. I already, I've been working, you know, prepping to get going, and this is a sweet onion. You want nice and kind of thick slices because you don't want them to sort of disappear with the potatoes, but you want them to kind of become mellow and fold in with the potatoes. So let me put some salt. Salt pulls out the water from the onions. And to flavor this dish, some of Lydia's favorite fresh herbs. Bay leaf, of course. I love sage as well. Sometimes sage is very pronounced. So how do I pull it out of the dish? You put a whole branch just like that. It will release all its flavor, and then you're able to see it and pluck it out if you want to. And with this, we'll do a lot of potatoes. Nice, peeled potato, like russet or Idaho. Yellow golds are good, too. This tip is black. Okay, slice the potatoes, not too thin. You want them sort of to retain shape. Put it in water this way, sort of even lose some of its starches, and it doesn't turn color. I'm going to wilt the onions just a little more. I have some time. Let's check, you know. You send me a lot of... Messages, emails, texts, pictures, and I love it all. Keep on sending. So let's see, where are we? Oh my goodness, Lydia, my granddaughter is 14 and loves to cook, but she's not a fan of vegetables. I had made your mashed potatoes and she loved them. We were experimenting and she wanted to try carrots, just like your potatoes. She wants them all the time now. Any other ideas? Thank you, Debbie. Oh yeah, Debbie, I have plenty of ideas. Cauliflower. Get little florets and you toss the florets in melted butter with some salt. And then you make some seasoned breadcrumbs and you coat those florets with the seasoned breadcrumbs and then you bake them in the oven in a sheet pan so they get nice and crispy. And you'll see she'll kind of like chicken nuggets almost. She should like that. So the onions are just right, still very al dente. So now let's add the cream and the milk. All right. So this is sort of making a base sauce and we'll drain the potatoes and throw the potatoes in. And then we'll bake this but we'll top it with some good cheese, actually layer it with cheese. So here I have some provola. And I'm gonna grate it. I think this is grated. You know provola? You see these things hanging in the Italian delis. This is provola. It's between a mozzarella and a provolone. It's mild and it melts well. And it brings that extra flavor to your dish. So let's grate it. Now the provola, if you buy the whole piece like that, usually has a wax coating on to keep it moist so it doesn't over dry like a dry cheese. So make sure that you take that off. And I'm getting close to, you know how many times as a kid I got my knuckles grated too? So be careful. And what I'll do is this last piece, cut it up. Some grated cheese in there. Toss the grated cheese with the provola. It sort of keeps it separate so it's easy to layer. So the potatoes cook somewhat. We're gonna bake them in a container that you can bring it to the table and it's gonna look nice. Let's butter the base in the corner just like that. I think I've got it. Let me salt the potatoes, the milk, the cream. They all need salt. So this looks good and I'll remove the bay leaves. Let's see the sage. It's all out. All right let me start layering things up here and putting it in the oven. I want to make two layers and now let's put half of the cheese. There's a lot of cheese here. They tend to bubble up in the oven and then you have to scrub the oven. Put it On a baking sheet like this, you put in a preheated hot oven, 400 degrees. I cover it first with foil because you want the inside to cook. 400 degrees, half an hour. Uncover it and let it cook for another half hour. It'll get nice and crispy and good. Here is Lydia with some more questions, answers, and all of that good stuff. This is an email from Carol. I love your show and your recipes. My husband is not a fan of rosemary, but I want to make your smashed garlic rosemary potato recipe. What is a different herb that would work? Thanks, Carol. Oh, that's very considerate of you, Carol. A sprig of thyme is good. Sage is good with potatoes. The whole onion family is good with potatoes and, of course, garlic. Thank you for writing in, Carol. Try those. Let's see if he likes them. You know, these potatoes can be great for breakfast or brunch. So let me make a quick egg my way, and a little bit of olive oil. And I know you guys all have a problem with eggs, and how can I crack it and put it in the pan? Do I crack it over the pan or whatever? Get yourself a little espresso cup just like that, and just pour it in. There's one, there's two, there's three, And Oh, a little oregano. Not too much, just a little bit. Okay, salt and moderate heat. And I like to cover this so it slowly cooks the top of the egg. So it's not just the bottom heat. This way it's going to cook the top. Now, how would I serve this? Ha ha. Well, Here is our beautiful potato gratin. Let me get a plate so I'll show you how I'd like to plate it. And of course, a little Lidia plate. And I'm seeing through this cover how the eggs are doing. And while they're cooking, let me check just who's writing what, who's telling me what. My grandkids write. This is from Ethan. Ciao Noni, I had a group of friends over last night and I made the baked ziti with zucchini. I followed your recipe step by step. By step, so of course, everyone loved it. Thanks Noni, is that nice? Let's see. Wow, Ethan, that looks like a good one. This is beautiful, thank you. I'm very proud of you, Ethan. Okay, these are looking good. If you uncover it, then you take the steam out and it doesn't cook from the top as fast. So let's go. Lydia, hmm. All right, so there you go. Let's separate the egg. Slide easily underneath. And if you feel you have a little bit of oil, you already have a paper towel or something, just touch it like that. And here it is, Lydia's. Oh, right. I'll take this one. Mm. And you can see, you can have a whole brunch crowd over and have your potatoes and just shovel the eggs out for each one of them, or just leave it like that. Let them help themselves. That's one. This right here, and you're ready. Ah, so, let me go into the egg. And the whole works. This looks good. This could be a lunch, too, or a dinner, but certainly a brunch. Hmm. Ooh, all these flavors, all those herbs. Oregano, sage, bay leaves, all my favorite. And, of course, who doesn't love potatoes, onions, and egg? So everybody will be happy with this one when you bring it to the table.