Peasant Potatoes

Not sure what to call this dish. I don't recall where I got the idea to make it, but I am thinking it came about after our trip to France. But I also have a feeling I had been making it prior that that point and Jennifer seems to think so too. The reason I think it is French inspired is because it reminds me of a tartiflette.

Once again on the theme of easy, one pot peasant meals this is a dish I make occasionally when we have the ingredients. Although I mostly make it in the Autumn when we have potatoes and broccoli from our garden. The usual main ingredients are potatoes and cheese. The potatoes vary due to what I buy. (This time it was the all red Mountain Rose variety.) The primary vegetable changes as well. Mostly I use broccoli, but this time I cut up some spinach to use. I think I always include onion and carrot. I added some mushrooms and one stalk of celery this time around as well. I have been known to add protein as well and this time it was Tofurkey Italian Sausage.

Truth is this is a two pot dish as I steam the potatoes to cook them before they enter the main dish. I also steam the broccoli as well. Mostly I saute the vegetables and then turn it into a roux and eventually a cheese sauce. Once the cheese sauce is to my liking I add the potatoes and stick the pot in the oven until the sauce is bubbling. Then I top it with a gratin and put it under the broiler for a few minutes. I used some generic Swiss Cheese this time around and it worked well for the sauce and the gratin. I often add some Romano Cheese to the gratin, but was feeling lazy and didn't. Actually I didn't want to dirty the cheese grater as I had finely chopped the Swiss Cheese to use in the dish. I was suspicious of how it would melt, but as you can see, no little cubes were left.


This a fun dish to make and can be made with ingredients on hand. You can have fun with it by using chorizo (in our case vegetarian) and pepper jack to make it a more Mexican style dish. I like to keep it a bit simple and usually use a cheddar and broccoli combination. Also, using a red or all blue potato is supposed to be a little more nutritious (more antioxidants) than a white potato too.