Potato Gratin And Chicken Escalope With Caramelized Onions

It is not a secret if I say that many of our Lebanese dishes originated from France. After more then seventy years of French Occupation, it is very expected that we have learnt much of their cuisine. Personally, I love gratin dishes. I previously posted Nouilles and Moussaka, both of which are gratin dishes. Today I made potato gratin, the way I like it. Its inspired by Potato Dauphinois but instead of garlic, I used onion and grated cheese. I made it as a side dish with chicken escalope topped with caramelized onions, which adds a nice flavor to the chicken. I hope you like this recipe as much as I enjoyed preparing and eating it 🙂

Ingredients for potato gratin:

1kilo potato
1 onion, sliced
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
4 cups milk
salt, seven spices
dash of freshly ground nutmeg
about 1 cup and a half of grated cheese (I used gruyere and mozzarella)

Preparation of the potato gratin:

1. Wash the potatoes and place in a big pot with about tw0 liters of water and a teaspoon of salt to boil for 10 minutes after the water starts boiling (we want the potato to be half cooked only)
2. Remove the potatoes from the water, peel it, slice it and keep aside
3. In another pot prepare the white sauce: melt the butter then add the flour and mix it well; next add the milk gradually whisking constantly until the mixture starts boiling and thickening, then add the nutmeg and one teaspoon salt
4. Preheat the oven to 180 C
5. In a tray, place one layer of the potato and sprinkle with a dash of salt and spices. Top it off with some sliced onions and a third of the white sauce; repeat this procedure to make another layer
6. For the third layer, repeat the last step with the exception of the onion; top it off with the grated cheese
7. Bake in the oven about 25-30 minutes until the top turns nice golden color

Ingredients for the caramelized onions:

2 medium sized onions, sliced
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon red vinegar
1/2 tablespoon corn oil

Preparation of the onions:

1. In a saucepan, heat the oil and fry the onions until golden
2. Add the sugar and keep frying and stirring until all the onions are coated with sugar
3. Add the vinegar and keep the onions on fire until they turn brown (don’t let them burn!)
4. Put the onion over the fried escalope for flavor