RECIPE :: Leek and potato dauphinoise

I love this dish. Its gentle flavours, soft texture and relative ease of making made this a very enjoyable addition to the dishes I made at the Centre for Alternative Technology. The steamed and fried tempeh is one of my favourite ways of preparing this beautiful soya product and can be adapted to add a creamy, gourmet quality to a meal that would traditionally ask for cheese.

Ingredients
50g of butter,
3tbsp of gram flour,
750ml of unsweetened soya milk,
½ tsp of ground nutmeg,
1 bay leaf,
1 onion (peeled and quartered),
1tsp of salt,
1 handful of fresh parsley (finely chopped),
2tbsp of olive oil,
3 medium leeks (thinly chopped) and
1500g of potatoes.

Topping
225g of tempeh,
1tbsp of olive oil,
1 clove of crushed garlic,
200ml of unsweetened soya milk,
½ tsp of salt and
1 handful of parsley leaves (finely chopped).

Method
1) Pre-heat your oven to gas mark 6 / 200C / 400F.
2) Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat. Add the gram flour to the butter and fry for a few minutes constantly stirring to create the roux.
3) Pour 60ml of the milk to the saucepan stirring constantly so that the roux gets fully blended. Pour in the remaining milk and stir well.
4) Mix in the nutmeg, bay leaf and onion into the milk and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and remove the bay leaf and onion, then mix in the salt and parsley. Put aside until ready.
5) Fry the leeks in the olive oil over a medium heat for 5 minutes.
6) Cut the potatoes into 2-3mm thick slices (ideally using a mandolin) so that you get a pile of large, thick crisps.
7) Now we need to assemble the dauphinoise. To do this, first place a layer of the potatoes into a medium sized baking dish so that you get two potatoes slices laying flat on top of each other. Now place half of the leeks over the potatoes and pour a third of the parsley and nutmeg sauce over the leeks. Repeat this again then top of with a final layer of potatoes and the remaining sauce. Cover with foil and bake for 60-70 minutes or until the potatoes have softened.
8) To make the topping; cube and steam the tempeh for 15 minutes.
9) Fry the steamed tempeh with the oil and garlic over a medium heat for 4 minutes.
10) Add the milk to the pan and continue to fry for 10-12 minutes or until all the milk has been absorbed into the tempeh.
11) Take the tempeh off the heat and mix in the salt and parsley.
12) When the dauphinoise is baked remove from the oven, remove the foil and sprinkle the tempeh over the top. Bake for a further 15 minutes.