Pommes de terre au gratin

Potatoes au gratin. Really, really tasty; a comfort food.

Yield

Roughly one of those low-profile, 13×8 Pyrex dishes.

Ingredients

red potatoes (a couple of pounds?)
1 large onion very thinly sliced
1 tbsp flour
3 large cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp unsalted butter
¾ cup Ricotta (or puréed cottage cheese)
1½ cup Swiss-style cheese, grated
1 cup cream
1 cup milk
butter and olive oil
salt and pepper

1. Peel potatoes and put into water to boil for 10-15 minutes just to soften a tiny bit. Remove and cool until able to handle. Cut into thin slices (coins). Meanwhile, ...

2. Salt and clarify onions in butter and olive oil; add flour and stir to incorporate; add garlic for 30 seconds. Remove from heat. Meanwhile...

3. Heat ricotta and cream. Add grated cheese. Add onion preparation. Thin with milk.

4. Assemble in Pyrex® dish, bottom buttered and a small amount of milk mixture, cover with leaning stacks of potato coins, fresh-ground salt and pepper. Add more layers of potato if necessary covering between and over all with milk mixture.

5. 350° oven until beginning to brown, 45-60 minutes.

This kind of thing is good the next day too—I hate left-overs (so, just saying it survives and it's good). Amazingly, it warms well even in the microwave.