The recipe prepared for this week is from Class 18, Les Grillades et les Gratins (Grilling and Browning) and is Gratin Dauphinois (Potato Gratin with Garlic and Cream). It can be found in the cookbook Le Cordon Bleu At Home on page 498. OMW...you cannot believe how good this dish is. If I were a different type of blogger, I might even put a very descriptive word in front of the word "good" as it is THAT good. 
These are the BEST potatoes I have ever had in my entire life. Hands down. Get over here quick before I eat more than two bites...two VERY BIG BITES...so you can finish this off before it gets out of control.
We have a little question and answer connect as Whisk Wednesday members that Shari set up for us so we could post amongst ourselves if we were having difficulties with a recipe or whatnot. Early in the week, newbie Melissa, all excited to get going on her first assignment, started in on the recipe, leaving the rest of us in the dust and making us feel slightly guilty for being such slackers on a fairly regular basis, cooking things at the last minute and all (that would be primarily me), and posted and gushed that these were the best things going and that we should definitely NOT cut the batch in half as we would want the whole recipe, telling us it warms up well, etc.
I thought, "Yeah, okay...potatoes with garlic, cream, and cheese...been there, done that..." and made plans to make half a batch. Well, that and the fact that my guys will NOT eat leftovers. I know, I know, I have aided and abetted this crime for so many years that there is no changing it now...there is no sense in me making something that will not get eaten at one sitting because they will not eat it warmed up, reheated, made into something else, carefully disguised...they have radar like you would not believe on leftovers. 
Melissa was right...these are so good, I think I might have been able to get by with warming these back up and serving them again, especially because the guys will eat anything sounding like it has a potato in it (except probably rice pudding with potato...they really did not like this week's TWD recipe).
So, what's in this potato dish? Potatoes, milk, garlic, cream, bouquet garni, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and a little cheese grated on top. 
The pan count was one for milk and potatoes, etc., one for boiling cream, and one gratin dish for baking it in...just THREE! Directions were very easy, boil the potatoes and such in milk, drain the milk, boil the cream, layer the potatoes in the gratin dish, pour the cream over the potatoes, top with the freshly grated cheese, bake 40 minutes.
Same as all the other recipes pretty much, but NOT the same at all. There is something about the way the French layer ingredients that gives it a depth of flavor, the way they cook things separately and then bring them together...it's what gives a dish that "OMW" wow. I halved the recipe, but otherwise followed it exactly. 
At the end of the boiling potatoes, it instructed us to drain and toss out the milk...and I did not do that...I strained it into another container because it was absolutely gorgeous and thick from the potato starch. I saved it so I could make cream of broccoli soup with it tomorrow. When the cookbook says to toss things, I figure that sometimes that just means it isn't needed for that recipe any more, but toss it completely...no way...it was perfectly good boiled milk nicely seasoned and thickened and just begging for broccoli and cheese.
I am so making this again...might be finding its way onto the Thanksgiving table. Yep, just might.
If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us! Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click, so while we can't post the recipe instructions, you can at least look at the ingredients, and I bet you can figure out a lot of it from there. Upcoming schedule:
• Class 18, Part 3 (Post on Wednesday, November 26, 2008):
Oeufs Mollets Florentine (Soft-boiled Eggs with Spinach and Mornay Sauce) pages 69-70