Potato Artichoke Gratin

This was an extremely fruitful experiment. Really, this was one of the most delicious things I've made in a long time that wasn't a curry. I mean, I guess it's hard to screw up cheesy potatoes, but still, this was really tasty.

Honestly, I didn't need a recipe to do this, though I glanced at this and this before starting. Mostly, I just wasn't sure how to go about getting my artichoke hearts. Both of these recipes suggest starting with fresh artichokes, but I couldn't bare to waste all of that leafy goodness just to get to the heart. I also could not bare to spend $4 per artichoke at Lunds. So I ended up buying a couple of packages of frozen artichoke hearts, which were perfect.

Ingredients:
2 packages frozen artichoke hearts
3 large baking potatoes
About 2 cups grated cheese ( I mixed Gruyere and Parmesan)
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup bread crumbs
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or put through a press
Paprika, salt and pepper to taste

Grease a large baking dish with olive oil. Mostly peel your potatoes and slice them real thin. Prepare the artichoke hears according to instructions on the package. Strain them. Line the pan with about a third of your potato slices. Cover with a thin layer of cheese, which you can see pictured below.



Cover this with a layer of artichoke hearts. Then another layer of cheese. Then another layer of potatoes and then more cheese and more artichokes... you get the point. Do this until you run out of artichoke hearts and potatoes.

Cook your cream, garlic, salt, pepper and paprika in a pan at a low heat until it is sufficiently fragrant. Pour this mix evenly over your potato-artichoke-cheese layers. Top with the bread crumbs and one last layer of cheese. Cover the whole thing in tin foil and bake for about 40 minutes. Remove the tin foil and broil until the cheese on top is lightly browned. Allow to cool for about 15 minutes.