Potatoes have always found their way to my family’s table on Thanksgiving, usually in the form of mashed potatoes or scalloped potatoes. Creamy potatoes have always been part of my comfort food, which is why I love serving them for the holidays. But they can be overloaded with fat and cholesterol. So what’s a First Class Foodie to do? I’m so glad I don’t have to stay goodbye to some of my favorite holiday foods. With just a few healthy changes, I can continue to enjoy them year after year. And so can you.
This is my upgraded version of scalloped potatoes–minus the fat and high calories. But it’s still loaded with peak flavor and creaminess–just the way I like it. Its fiber content is also higher because the sauce is made from garbanzo beans! And what’s amazing is, it doesn’t have a beany taste. One of the key ingredients to the thick sauce is aquafaba–the liquid that you find in any can of beans. It is able to thicken sauces naturally by mimicking the properties you normally find in egg whites.
The sauce is easy to whip up in your blender–by mixing aquafaba, soy milk, garbanzos, and some key seasonings. As it bakes in the oven with your layers of potatoes and onions or garlic, you will see it bubbling with creaminess that will amaze you! And I hope turning on your tastebuds so it becomes a favorite at your house.
This recipe is quick to put together. You can have it ready for the oven in about 15-20 minutes. Especially if you use a mandolin slicer. I like to use mine because it gets the work done quickly and it also gives me uniform size slices–important for this kind of dish. Just watch out for the blade. It is very sharp and I’ve had to have a band-aid handy–unless I wear my cutting protection gloves. You can find them on Amazon or at a local kitchen cutlery store. Here’s the kind that I use.
I hope you will enjoy our New Start version of Scalloped Potatoes and that they will be a part of your happy Thanksgiving this year.
Scalloped Potatoes
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup garbanzos with liquid from 15 ounce can
- 3/4 cup non-dairy milk I used soy
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
- 1 large clove or garlic or 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp salt or salt substitute
- 1 medium onion cut in rings
- 1/4 to 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp basil
- 1-2 T fresh chives or dried parsley
- 2 pounds potatoes Yukon Gold or Red Pontiac
- Additional snipped chives or parsley for a garnish
Instructions
- Pour the liquid from a can of garbanzos/chickpeas into a 2 cup measuring cup; add enough milk to reach the 1 ½ cup mark (if using home cooked garbanzos, use ¾ cup cooking liquid). Pour into a blender. Add ¾ cup of garbanzos, nutritional yeast flakes, garlic, salt, turmeric, and basil. Blend on high speed until completely smooth. Add the chives without blending and set aside. Pour a little of the sauce on the bottom of your baking pan. This prevents the food from sticking.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Wash the potatoes and peel them if you like. Slice them about ¼ inch thick. I used a mandolin cutter to have uniform slices. Place about a third of them on the bottom of a nonstick pan. Slightly overlap the slices. Add some of the onions; slice the onion into thin rings, then cut each ring in half. Pour about ½ cup of the sauce over the potatoes and onions. Add another layer of potatoes and cover with ½ cup of sauce. Repeat with remaining potatoes and sauce.
- Cover tightly with foil and bake for 45 minutes or use a baking dish that has its own lid. Remove foil and bake for another 15-20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender (using a fork to test). If the top starts to brown too much, loosely cover with foil until the potatoes are done. Sprinkle with additional chives if you like.
- CHEF’S NOTE: This recipe serves 6. Prep time is only 20 minutes.
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