Buttermilk Blue Cheese Potatoes Au Gratin - cooking recipe

Ingredients

7 large potatoes, peeled, parboiled, and thinly sliced
2 cups cooked broccoli, drained well (cooked only until firm-tender, but good to garnish with!) (optional)
1 cup monterey jack cheese, grated
1 1/2 cups coarsely crushed potato chips
1 1/2 cups canned sliced mushrooms
1 -2 tablespoon pimento pepper, sliced
BUTTERMILK BLUE CHEESE SAUCE
3 tablespoons butter
1 -2 minced fresh garlic clove
2 green onions, sliced
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups half-and-half cream or 1 1/2 cups full-fat milk
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
pepper
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 -2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 -3 ounces crumbled blue cheese, divided

Preparation

Make sure to parboil the potatoes until soft-firm.
Butter a 2-1/2-quart shallow casserole dish.
Set oven to 350\u00b0F.
Arrange half of the sliced par-boiled potatoes in the bottom of the prepared dish.
For the buttermilk-blue cheese sauce: melt butter in a medium saucepan over low heat.
Add in garlic and shallots; saute for 1 minute.
Add/whisk in flour, whisk and stir for 3 minutes more.
Pour in the half and half and room temperature buttermilk all at once; cook/whisk until sauce thicken and is bubbly.
Remove from heat, and stir in pepper, mayonnaise, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, parsley and half of the blue cheese; mix well to combine.
Layer all of the sliced mushrooms over the potatoes in the casserole dish; top with half of the cheese sauce, and distribute the grated jack cheese over the sauce.
Layer remaining potatoes over the jack cheese and sauce.
Spoon with remaining sauce on top.
Sprinkle with remaining blue cheese.
Bake for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle the potato chips over top; return to oven for 10 minutes.
Remove from oven and arrange the cooked broccoli around the edges of the casserole (if using) and garnish with pimento (if using); bake for 5 minutes longer.
Absolutely delicious!