# Awesome Smoked Au Gratin Potatoes with Tater View



## alelover (Mar 21, 2011)

Wanted a side dish to go with the meatloaf I was making but I wanted something different than my usual corn or beans or broccoli. Had some taters, onion and smoked cheese hanging around. I thought what a combination, can't go wrong there.

Grated up some smoked sharp cheddar, smoked colby jack and smoked havarti. About 2 cups worth of cheese all together. Made a cheese sauce out of it. Just a basic Béchamel sauce, basically just 3 TSP of butter and 3 TSP of flour made into a roux then I added 1 cup of milk to it then added the cheese added to it. I guess that would be a Mornay sauce. But let's not get too technical. I boiled 5 medium sized Red potatoes in their skins for about 15 minutes, cooled in cold water and diced them up. Yukon golds would be good too. You don't want a tater that's too starchy. Sauteed a bit of finely chopped onion, about a cup, in some bacon grease from the strip of bacon I fried and threw it in a casserole dish. Added the diced potatoes, covered it with the cheese sauce and mixed it well. Baked it at 375 for around 50 minutes. Everyone loved them. I will make this one again for sure.

A Meatloaf Marvin O'Day would be proud of.








Cheese, Bacon and Onions, boiled potatoes. Wish I'd had more bacon. But it was kinda spur of the moment.













The sauce. I think this would be good poured over anything.







Ready to go in the oven. I added about a half cup of water to it in the casserole dish so it would dry out too much while baking.







Oh yeah. That's what I'm talkin about. Golden brown goodness.







Thanks for watching.


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## scarbelly (Mar 21, 2011)

Those are some great looking taters for sure. I bet the smoke really added a great flavor


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## Dutch (Mar 21, 2011)

What a great idea, Scott. If you didn't have any smoked cheese on hand, you could make this with regular cheese and toss the works into the smoker along whatever else you're smoking. 

Oh yeah-


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## SmokinAl (Mar 21, 2011)

Awesome looking potatoes!


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## alelover (Mar 21, 2011)

Sure could Dutch. Might have to try that. I can't imagine them tasting any better though. Except if I add more bacon of course. I really didn't think they'd turn out that good. Man was I surprised. Thanks for the good words.


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## realtorterry (Mar 21, 2011)

Great looking taters!! Nice & cheesy!


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## tyotrain (Mar 21, 2011)

nice looking tatters.. bet it was tasty


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## alelover (Mar 21, 2011)

They sure were. Thanks. I highly recommend them.


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## venture (Mar 23, 2011)

Yep!  Home made scalloped taters just warm my heart.  Then the smoke, well, that is even better.

Great job and thanks for posting!

Good luck and good smoking!


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## beer-b-q (Mar 23, 2011)

Great looking taters...


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## nwdave (Mar 24, 2011)

Disregarding your quandry for what to call your cheese sauce, once again it is proven that sometimes some of the best food we come up with is nothing more than something we whipped up on the spur of the moment, with whatever we had to hand and probably forgot to write it down so we could repeat it again in the distant future.  In your case, you wrote it down, electronically yes, but still its documented.  More importantly, it just plain looks great.  BUT, what about your meatloaf?  I'm always on the outlook for meatloaf recipes.

2 Ronco Showtimes?  Wow, I've got one and I gotta tell ya, I use it probably 4-5 times a month.  Sure get some great crispy CSRs with it.


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## alelover (Mar 24, 2011)

Thanks. NWDave. The 2nd ronco came from my mom-in-law. It's great when I need to do a pork loin and a prime rib for New Years. The meatloaf I don't really have a recipe. Usually ground chuck, bread crumbs, chopped onion, garlic powder, parsley, an egg, a little ketchup and some sweet baby ray's. I don't measure.


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## fpnmf (Mar 24, 2011)

Delicious!!

Saved..I will try this.

  Craig


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## alelover (Mar 24, 2011)

You won't be disappointed Craig.


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## Bearcarver (Mar 24, 2011)

alelover said:


> I can't imagine them tasting any better though. Except if I add more bacon of course. I really didn't think they'd turn out that good.


Scott,

Those look outstanding, but:

I have found that good hot, belly-warming tater dishes taste better when it's cold out, so I would think they would taste even better if you brought them up here to PA. I might even have some Bacon around, to throw in!

Just sayin',

Bear


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## alelover (Mar 24, 2011)

Ya know I do want to see some of your carvings. And that shop of yours.


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