Pandemic Cooking Recipe - Comfort Food from Inglenook's Estate Chef Lovick

(All images and recipe courtesy Inglenook)

​Given our current non-travel situation almost anywhere in the world, here’s a recipe to get your home-cooking skills put to the challenge! One of Napa Valley’s first and most renowned wineries, Inglenook was established in 1879. Inglenook’s Estate Chef Alex Lovick crafts memorable dishes from the organically-farmed estate and culinary garden. As he’s spending time at home right now, he’s pleased to share his recipe for Scalloped Potatoes – a dish his dad used to make, and we could all use a little comfort food right now.

Alex’s recipe for Scalloped Potatoes is below. He suggests enjoying this creamy dish with a fresh, vibrant Sauvignon Blanc like Inglenook’s 2017 vintage. Inglenook will continue posting additional recipes from Chef Alex on their Instagram feed, @inglenook1879. They’ll also be hosting virtual tastings on Instagram with their winemakers. 

Scalloped Potatoes from Inglenook Estate Chef Alex Lovick
Ingredients:
1 ea    Garlic clove, peeled, sliced thin
2 oz (4 tbsp)   Unsalted butter, sliced into 4 pieces
¼ cup    All purpose flour
3 cups     Whole milk
1 tsp + as needed  Salt
as needed   Black pepper, freshly ground
a few scrapes   Fresh nutmeg (use microplane)
2 ¼ lbs (about 2 large)  Russet potatoes, peeled
½ ea    Large yellow onion, peeled, cut into thin slices
2 cups    Chopped ham (substituting for turkey bacon here as I don’t eat ham)
2 cups    Cheddar cheese, grated

Method:
1. Preheat a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add sliced butter. Once the butter has melted halfway add the sliced garlic. Cook garlic for 1-2 minutes, until aromatic and golden.
2. Add flour and stir with a wooden spoon until smooth. Continue to cook until golden, about 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly to avoid scorching.
3. Pour in about a quarter of the milk while stirring. Once smooth add another quarter of the milk and stir again until smooth. Continue to incorporate the rest of the milk in two more additions. Season with 1 tsp salt, freshly ground black pepper to taste and nutmeg.
4. Bring to a simmer. Stir frequently to avoid scorching and cook about 2 minutes. The sauce should have thickened at this point. Remove from heat and reserve. 
5. Preheat oven to 375˚F. 

6. Butter the inside of a glass 11” x 7” baking dish.
7. Slice peeled potatoes into 1/8” thick slices. Arrange in a single layer, slightly overlapping, on the bottom of the baking dish. Season the entire layer with salt and black pepper to taste. Spoon about one third of the sauce from step 4 directly onto the potatoes. Top with approximately on third of the sliced onions, then one third of the chopped ham, then one third of the grated cheese.
8. Proceed to the next layer in the same fashion. You should end up with 3 layers if using the same size baking dish. The final layer should be the sauce, onion, ham and finally cheese.
9. Cover with aluminum foil, taking care to pinch down around the edges of the baking dish to create a seal, making sure to leave a gap in between the cheese and the foil to prevent the cheese from sticking to the foil when removing later. 
10. Place onto sheetpan, then onto center rack of oven, and bake for one hour. Turn heat down to 350˚F and bake an additional 30 minutes. Carefully lift up foil and insert a knife. When ready the knife should easily pierce the potatoes. If there is some resistance cover again with foil and bake an additional 15-30 minutes.

11. Once a knife can easily pierce through the potatoes, remove foil, then turn oven temperature up to “broil.”
12. Set a timer for 3 minutes. After 3 minutes if the potatoes are not yet golden brown, broil an additional 3 minutes taking a peek every minute to make sure they are not burning.
13. Remove from oven and place onto cooling rack. 
14. Allow potatoes to cool for about 1 hour then enjoy.

Share your pictures and posts if you make this dish and remember to tag chef to thank him for the recipe.