AT A GLANCE
SCALLOPED POTATOES IN A HURRY
Scalloped potatoes are a labor of love. We’re talking well over an hour of work between the peeling and slicing of pounds of potatoes, the making of a sauce, and the long baking time that this dense casserole usually requires. To streamline this classic dish, we found two convenience products that took nearly all the work out of this laborious dish. And shaving minutes off the baking time was as simple as using the microwave to cook the frozen potatoes and warm the sauce ingredients through before assembling the dish so we could finish it in a super-hot oven.
1. Use presliced potatoes and cook them in the microwave: One of the most time-consuming tasks when making scalloped potatoes is peeling and slicing all of the potatoes. Luckily, we found that frozen peeled and sliced potatoes worked just fine, especially when covered by a rich, creamy sauce. Cooking them until tender before assembling the casserole helps shave valuable minutes off the baking time. Using the microwave makes quick work of both thawing and cooking the potatoes in one easy step. Be sure to drain the microwaved potatoes well before tossing them with the sauce.
2. Make a sauce using Boursin, cream, and broth: Classic scalloped potato recipes make a béchamel sauce from scratch, then whisk in cheese for flavor—tasty for sure, but quite time-consuming. To speed up the sauce-making process, we found we could simply thin out Boursin cheese with a little heavy cream and chicken broth. The Boursin plays a double role, adding both flavor and thickening power to the sauce. Microwaving the Boursin with the cream and broth for just a minute makes it easy to whisk these ingredients into a smooth sauce.
3. Combine cooked potatoes and warm sauce: Given that the potatoes and the sauce are both hot and fully cooked, all that is left to do is combine them and transfer them to a casserole dish before baking. Be sure the potatoes and sauce are well combined so that there are no pockets of dry, unsauced potatoes. Also, be sure to handle the cooked potatoes gently to avoid breaking them.
4. Uncover during final 10 minutes of baking: To shorten the casserole’s baking time dramatically, we use a super-hot oven and cover the casserole with aluminum foil to prevent the top from drying out. Uncovering the dish during the final 10 minutes of baking makes it possible for the potatoes to achieve that golden halo of browned cheese on top. Once the casserole is baked, be sure to let it sit for a few minutes to cool and set up before serving.