FRENCH ONION POTATO BAKE
This creamy French onion potato bake gets its flavour from French onion soup mix. It’s easy and delicious!
If you have a food processor with a slicing function, I can definitely recommend using it to slice the potatoes and onions. You’ll get perfect even slices in just a fraction of the time, plus there’s plenty of time to wash the food processor while the potato bake cooks!
Layer the thinly sliced potatoes and onions with a little crushed garlic, cheese and a tasty mixture of crème fraîche and French onion soup mix, before baking until golden and bubbling. Swiss cheese is the perfect flavour combination here, but an everyday cheese like Colby works great too.
This meal is a wee bit indulgent, so we balance it out with a nice big salad, which you can easily customise to suit your tastes, and some juicy steak.
The potato bake reheats really well too, making it great for barbecues and dinners with friends. It’s quite rich, so you can definitely get more than 4 servings from it.
FRENCH ONION POTATO BAKE
This creamy French onion potato bake gets its flavour from a packet of French onion soup mix. Easy and delicious! Serve with a simple pan fried steak and plenty of salad.
Ingredients
POTATO BAKE
- Cooking oil spray
- 200 g crème fraîche (7oz)
- 1/2 cup milk (125ml)
- 1 sachet French onion soup mix (29g/1oz)
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 800 g potatoes, i.e. Agria (1lb 12oz)
- 1 small brown onion (or 1/2 red onion)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 cup grated Swiss, Emmental or Colby cheese (100g)
SALAD AND DRESSING
- 1 Lebanese cucumber
- 1 capsicum, any colour
- 150 g cherry tomatoes (5.3oz)
- 1 avocado
- 80 g rocket or salad greens (2.8oz)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp wholegrain mustard
- 1 1/2 Tbsp pine nuts
- 1/2 tsp soy sauce
STEAK
- 500 g beef sirloin or rump steak (1lb 2oz)
- 2 tsp olive oil
Instructions
PREPARE POTATO BAKE
Preheat oven to 190ºC (375ºF) fan bake. Spray an oven-safe dish (approximately 25cm/10in square) with cooking oil spray.
In a medium jug, whisk together crème fraîche, milk, soup mix and oregano. Peel and thinly slice potatoes and onion (use a food processor if you can - it’s much quicker!). Crush garlic. Layer one quarter of the potatoes, onion and garlic in prepared dish and season with a little salt and pepper. Pour a quarter of the sauce over the top and sprinkle with a quarter of the cheese. Repeat to form three more layers. Bake for 45 minutes, until golden brown and potatoes are tender. If the top starts to brown too much, loosely cover with foil.
PREPARE SALAD & DRESSING
Meanwhile, thinly slice cucumber. Dice capsicum into small pieces and cut tomatoes in half. Slice or dice avocado. Divide rocket/salad greens between individual serving plates and top with cucumber, capsicum, tomatoes and avocado.
Make dressing by placing oil, vinegar, sugar and mustard in a small jar. Season with a little salt and pepper and shake until well combined.
Heat a large frying pan on medium-high. Toast pine nuts, then stir in soy sauce. Remove onto a plate.
COOK STEAK
When potato bake has 5-10 minutes left to cook, rub steaks all over with oil and season with salt and pepper. Heat the same pan used to toast pine nuts on medium-high. Cook steak for 3 minutes each side (for medium-rare). Remove steak onto a board, cover with foil and leave to rest for 5 minutes.
SERVE
Let potato bake rest for 5-10 minutes after removing from oven, then slice and serve with steak and salad. Drizzle salad with dressing and sprinkle with pine nuts.
Recipe Notes
WINE MATCH: A Cabernet Sauvignon.
GLUTEN-FREE OPTION: Check your soup mix (I used the Maggi French onion soup mix, which isn’t gluten-free). Try Continental brand in New Zealand - this is a bigger packet so you won’t need to use the whole sachet. Alternatively, swap for 1 tsp gluten-free chicken stock powder and 2 tsp onion flakes (not onion salt). Use gluten-free soy sauce.
INGREDIENT SWAPS / NOTES: The salad can easily be customised to your liking, or what you have on hand in the veggie drawer! Sausages (any type) are a great alternative to steak - pan fry or oven bake until cooked through.
STORING AND REHEATING: Steak is best cooked fresh just before serving. Potato bake can be refrigerated and reheated in the microwave. Assemble and dress salad just before serving.
