A welcome mat for fall in the form of a potato and shallot gratin

This is my new favorite dish.   I think I'm allowed to switch favorites that often.

It's simple.  It really is.  The oven does most of the work.

It's foolproof.  Now that's rare.

It's delicious.  Have a look at the ingredients.

It's humble.  You can't get more humble than potatoes.

It's pedigreed.  It's French, naturellment.  

It's versatile.  It goes with fish, it goes with meat.  It's perfect all by itself.

It's satisfying.  Just a bit of peeling, slicing and layering results in a pretty elegant dish.

It's fun.  Layering is fun.

It gives you an excuse to get a beautiful gratin dish.  If you don't make gratins, you'd have no business owning a dish like this.

I've made this gratin several times this summer... in between all those fresh tomatoes and watermelon salads I occasionally indulged in some 'aspirational' fall cooking.  I can already tell I'm going to make lots of variations this fall, but let's start with the original.

Potato and shallot gratin
3 russet potatoes, peeled and sliced thin (they don't have to be paper thin)
2 large shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 cup grated cheese (I used extra sharp white cheddar)
1/2 cup whole milk  
1/2 cup cream
salt 
lots of fresh cracked pepper
fresh thyme
2 Tbsp butter 

Preheat the oven to 375.  Add a splash of olive oil to the bottom of a round, square, or oval baking dish.  Lay out one sliced potato evenly across the bottom of the pan, doubling up if necessary.  Sprinkle 1/3 of the cheese across the potato, then 1/3 of the sliced shallots, add a few thyme leaves, and salt and pepper.  Then layer the next potato the same way.  Add the third potato and top it off with dots of butter.  Carefully pour the cup of milk and cream over the gratin.

Bake the gratin for about 50 minutes until the whole thing is browned and bubbling. 

I grew up on scalloped potatoes from a box. You would pour boiling water over the dehydrated potato disks and fluorescent orange cheese powder.  In the time it took to boil that water this whole dish can be put together from scratch.
Just think of the fun you can have playing with zucchini, cauliflower, maybe some eggplant.  And lots of different kinds of potatoes.  Fennel?  Parsnips, carrots, leeks...don't forget all the varieties of cheese you can experiment with, and herbs, lots of herbs.  Then there's the breadcrumb option, and of course you could layer in ham, thinly sliced or in big rustic chunks...
Bon appetit!