Root Veg Gratin with Parmesan & Comté

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Now I know that everyone is sharing lots of salads and healthy recipes after Christmas which is great but don’t tell me that for New Year you just want a salad.  This is an easy, delicious option to serve for dinner on New Year’s Eve!  The most important thing is to keep the veg thin and the same size and to do this you should use a mandolin for ease and speed.  If you don’t own one they are quite cheap on Amazon and its my favourite piece of kitchen kit.  I used parsnips, carrots, sweet potatoes and swede but you could try with celeriac, turnips or beetroot. Gruyère would also be nice.  Many gratins use butter but I think its rich enough here with the cream so have used olive oil.

GF/Vegetarian

Serves 6 as a side

Ingredients:

4 medium parsnips, thinly sliced (about 1/2cm thick)

2 medium carrots, thinly sliced (about 1/2cm thick)

700g swede, peeled, thinly sliced (about 1/2cm thick), keeping the same size/height as the sweet potato slices

400g sweet potato, thinly sliced (about 1/2cm thick)

6 garlic cloves, grated

6 tbsp olive oil

200g parmesan, grated

100g comté, grated

2 tbsp chopped sage

2 tbsp dried/fresh thyme

2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary

few grating nutmeg

300ml double cream

sea salt and black pepper

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees and grease a baking tray (mine was 14cm x 9cm).

Add all of the thinly sliced veg, grated garlic, cheese, 3 herbs, nutmeg gratings, salt, pepper and olive oil into a large bowl and mix together so that everything is well coated.  Next start lining up the veg upright in rows in the baking tray being sure to mix them up.  You want a mix of different veg and sizes.  Make sure that they are tightly packed because they will shrink when roasted.  Also use up all the leftover bits in the bowl for more flavour. Once all snug in the tray, season with a last sprinkle of salt and pepper and place into the middle of the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes.  The vegetables should be roasted on top and mostly cooked.  Now pour the double cream over the veg and put back into the oven for another 20 minutes or until everything is cooked and roasted.  I served it with a large winter salad and  avocado but it goes with pretty much anything!  The gratin can be heated up the next day and can be prepped the night be before and baked when needed.   

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