Wow this was so good I am craving more as I write this review. Every single person in my family toddlers included ate this so fast that we barely came up for air! Normally my husband does not like fennel so thanks for a recipe that makes us both happy!
I have made this twice now and it has turned out EXCELLENT both times. I started to use it as a base recipe but have ended up following it pretty much to a T except for the fennel since I generally dont have it on hand. I also include about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of diced onion (eyeballed) sprinkling it on during the layering process. I definitely have to agree with a previous reviewer in that prep time is AT LEAST an hour even with using a food processor for slicing the taters. Still it is tasty and now my go to recipe for gratin. Yummy goodness!:)
The prep took me over an hour. Par boil the potatoes to lessen cooking time. I cooked it for an hour and a half as directed and the potatoes still weren't cooked. It took so long to make I almost didn't care how it tasted. And there are too many ingredients for me. Potatoes cheese and bacon pretty much does it for this kind of dish.
This was very good. I used pancetta instead of bacon reduced-fat milk instead of whole and dried basil (didn't have fresh). It needed a bit longer to cook the potatoes (and I thought I sliced them thin enough) but it was worth the wait. A good left-over side dish. Thanks for the recipe.
Love it love it love it! And my picky boyfriend does too. Great with pork loin and salad. Be brave with the basil- would prefer a little more next time. I took the advice to par-boil the potatoes boiled for about 7 minutes then sliced. Cook for the full 90 minutes. Thanks for a good one! Having never had fennel before I feel much more confident after tasting this great dish.
I omitted the bacon because I was serving this as a side dish to a roasted pork tenderloin. It was exactly the side dish I was looking for! Would be a great holiday side dish too. Again I really don't think you need the bacon at all! Dee-lish! Save some of the cheddar to sprinkle on the top and broil to crisp it up a wee bit before serving.
OMG how could something NOT be good with bacon in it? I didn't use fennel or basil because I didn't have any but did use flat-leaf parsley.
DELISH! I used smart balance margarine in lieu of butter reduced the flour to 4T used 1 12 oz can f/f evaporated milk and additional 8 oz of 1% milk (6 oz initially and the other 2 as the cheese sauce congealed between layering to thin it out) used 4 oz of velveeta 2% 9 slices (1/2 package) of low sodium bacon and added a small onion cut into rings and layered with everything. I was skeptical about the basil and thought parsley would work better but tried it and it worked! thanks for this recipe.
This is sooo easy to make and is well worth the cooking time. My family love it. Last time I omitted the bacon and used Mexican cheese. It was still delicious.
