Individual Potato and Cheese Gratins

A gratin is any baked dish that is topped off with bread crumbs or cheese. You could use cheese or a combination of cheese and bread crumb for the topping - it's up to you.
We did our splurge for the week and picked up two gorgeous porterhouse steaks that cost us about $16.00 for both. Steak doesn't often come into our food line up, but the grill has been begging to be used.
To go along side we decided we would like potatoes au gratin and our $1.79 per pound asparagus. It made for a dynamite dinner. Four individual casseroles were made.

• 3 medium russet potatoes
• 1/2 bar sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup onion - fine dice
• extra cheese grated for topping
• Milk or half and half
• salt and pepper to taste
• cooking spray

1. In the food processor using a grating blade, grate the 1/2 bar of cheese. Transfer to a bowl.
2. Dice the onion - you need about 1/4 cup.
3. Scrub 2-3 medium russet potatoes, peel them and with the thin slicing blade of your food processor, slice the potatoes and transfer them to an awaiting bowl of cold water. If you don't have a food processor, slice them as evenly as possibly with a sharp knife.
4. Empty the water and rinse one more time to remove any more dirt. Put cold water into the bowl with the potato slices.
5. Take the thin slices of potato and lay out on a clean dish towel. (You want to remove excess water before assembling the dish.) Keep the potatoes covered with another clean towel or paper towels to prevent oxidization and the potatoes turning brown during the assembly of the dish.
6. Spray the souffle cups all over the inside with a cooking spray.
7. Begin layering with potatoes, over lapping as necessary and on each layer season with salt and pepper to taste. 
8. Then sprinkle the shredded cheese and onion mixture on each layer.
9. Repeat as necessary.
10. Top with some extra cheese.
11. Add some milk a little at a time until you can just see the milk on the sides of the dish.
12. Cover with aluminum foil and bake in a preheated 350° oven or toaster oven for approximately 30 minutes. Uncover and continue to cook another 15-20 minutes until the tops are a deep golden brown and a knife inserts easily through all layers of potato.

We made four 8 ounce individual casseroles using our souffle cups. They will warm over nicely for another dinner for us. This is just a super way of presenting this side dish especially if you are having a small dinner party with some friends.