Date Night With Myself

After biking 185 miles along the C&O canal towpath with camping gear strapped to my bike, a couple good friends, and a slightly bunk knee, I decided I needed a date night with me, my kitchen, and a good movie.  I was still starving from the aftermath of burning 2000 - 3000 calories a day on top of whatever my body burns naturally, but since I had been gone for almost 4 days, my fridge was pretty empty with the exception of the half dozen or so different pickles in various stages of fermentation.  I had already frozen/dehydrated/pickled most of my CSA items.  Hrm.  What I did have were some freshly dug baby red potatoes, a red onion from my CSA, some eggs, and some leftover milk that had not gone bad yet.  Although this screamed breakfast, it did not bode well for my date night with myself.  That is, until I remembered a potato tart that I had drooled over from Smitten Kitchen's blog.  I guess I can't call whatever it is I made a tart because I didn't use a tart crust... so I'll call it my Blue-Brie Potato Custard.

And so I headed off to Whole Foods to grab some blue cheese and a bottle of a light bodied pinot noir with a cherry finish.  The most important thing is to open the bottle of pinot noir and pour a glass.  Then take a couple sips before beginning this dish.

This dish is easy comfort food...  potatoes au gratin dialed up a couple notches into "fancy" food.  In fact, its easy enough that you can drink a glass of wine or two while you make it and it will still be delicious and nearly idiot proof.

I took about 4 baby red potatoes, cut them in half and then sliced about 1/8" thin.  These were laid out in an overlapping circular pattern and fanned out in a jumbo muffin tin sprayed with olive oil.  Then whisk together about 3/4 cup milk or cream with 1 or 2 egg yolks.  I used 2 yolks for additional richness as the milk I had was only 2%.  Add a pinch of salt, cracked pepper, a pinch of thyme and basil, and pour over the potatoes until they are almost covered.  Then top with little chunks of blue-brie (basically a very soft blue cheese), walnuts, and slivered red onion.  Bake at 350 for 45 minutes until the potatoes are done.  Let cool before serving.