thumbs up to scallops!

I cannot believe it took me nearly eight years of being vegan to finally make scalloped potatoes. Even more incredible is that it took me almost ten years to use the brand new mandoline my aunt gifted me when she knew she'd never use it. At the time I had not done much cooking, other than calabasitas and tons of stir fries. I was not as comfortable or confident in the kitchen and could barely wield a knife, much less use a very sharp slicer. Thankfully, I have gotten over my knife fears and have run in the opposite direction, borderline blade lust. I have a few more gadgets up my sleeve, but for the most part I still enjoy doing all the prep myself. Who doesn't love mincing garlic?

I had half a bag of yukon golds left over from last week's birthday brunch and I could not let them go to waste. I had two scalloped potato recipes saved/favorited, one from Dreena Burton and one from Susan Voisin. I love both of those ladies but since I had more ingredients for Susan's recipe than for Dreena's, she won. The only ingredients I did not use were the miso and cashew butter, both of which could have been omitted. My miso did not survive the last fridge clean out and cashew is a can't do since my niece and sister are allergic. She did say you can sub tahini so I might try that next time. I didn't have any today, for shame!

The mandoline took some getting used to, but I got my gorgeous slices and kept my digits intact. She wasn't kidding about watching the potatoes though. I didn't notice until I was layering them in the pan that some pieces were on the verge of falling apart. Next time I will aim closer to five minutes than eight. I also will drain in two collanders since it seems like there was not enough room for adequate draining. I'll put tons more paprika on them as well. I was afraid of overdoing it, but that doesn't seem possible.

Overall I think this was an excellent first effort. The ingredients/prep were not too demanding, I had nearly everything on hand you could use a food processor to slice the potatoes if you want. I think next time I will use a hand blender or the magic bullet since I don't like washing the blender (but I do!). I cannot wait to try these again, but I'm not sure what I would serve alongside them. The only thing I remember eating them with in the past was ham, no thanks! My sister and I would eat them straight from the pan if left to our own devices, so I definitely need to find a complementary dish before I make them again.