This is another dish that’s just crying out to be sorted: vegan dauphinoise potatoes gratin. It’s rather decadent I know, but hey, who’s checking up! My mum certainly isn’t. I did a quick look-up on line and found a few candidate non-vegan recipes, then just did a bit of judicious substitution.
Fortunately there are now quite a few vegan cream subsitutes available on the market. Oatly, Elmlea or Alpro work well. Whilst oat milk makes a great milk substitute as it doesn’t curdle when cooked. I added some veg stock, and next time, I think I’ll add a little nutritional yeast.
This dish is one of those where a decent slicing machine really comes in handy. It has to be said, a Graef slicer makes quick work of slicing the potatoes. With a knife it would a long job, and getting the slices thin enough would be a nightmare. It’s literally no problem with a Graef slicer.
I’ve tried various methods, but simmering the potato slices in the cream mixture first is deffo the way to go. Give them around 8 minutes and it means they cook beautifully in just 30 minutes in the oven.
Sprinking a bit of vegan gruyere cheese on top and a little black pepper too really finishes it off well. You could also add a sprinkling of smoked or ordinary paprika, and maybe even some breadcrumbs. I also added a few dobs of vegan butter as a final touch.
This dish goes so well with lasagne, pastitsio, spinach & lentil pie etc. Vegan dauphinoise potatoes gratin – what’s not to like! I also like it with a side of my wholemeal garlic bread Yum Yum!
Vegan dauphinoise potatoes au gratin
Ingredients
- 600 g waxy potatoes
- 2 cloves garlic grated
- 250 g vegan cream Elmlea is good or Alpro
- 250 g oat milk
- 50 g soya yogurt optional but nice if you have it
- 1 teasp veg stock
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 125 g vegan gruyere or other vegan hard cheese
- 20 g vegan butter
- 1 teasp black pepper
- 1 tbsp bread crumbs
Instructions
- scrub, but don't peel the potatoes & remove any manky bits
- add the various ingredients for the cream sauce to a medium sized pan and set on a low heat.
- Slice the potatoes on about a 4mm setting - that's easy on a Graeff slicer as it's calibrated in mm
- Add the sliced potatoes to the now gently simmering pan.
- cover the pan, and simmer on a lowish heat for around 8 minutes. You don't want to overcook them, or they will fall apart as you transfer them to the oven dish.
- transfer half the potatoes to an oven dish. sprinkly 50g of the vegan hard cheese over the potatoes,
- Add the rest of the potatoes and all the sauce.
- sprinkly the other half of the cheese on top along with the black pepper, paprika and bread crumbs if you're using them.
- bake in the oven on 180°C Fan for 30 minutes.
- check after 25 minutes, They should be nicely browned - if so, continue for the full 30 minutes, or continue if not quite brown enough.
