snowed in recipes

My roommate and I did not really prepare for the past weekend's snowstorm that kept me home all weekend. Wednesday we had a conversation that went like this:

Roomie: What else should I get at the store?
Me: Um... wine. potatoes? more pasta. milk.

Thursday I picked up a few more things but the local Krogers was going crazy so I grabbed random things, couldn't find most of what I wanted and bolted. Friday night roommate was out and I was trying to decide what to make. I had a craving for scalloped potato despite Krogers was out of rosemary. I also really wanted to use my mandoline. Finally! So I used this recipe that was in my Epicurious recipe box with some adaptions. Namely, I added bacon. Potatoes and bacon are two of my favorite things, after all. I estimated reductions to make a single serving, having no idea how to take a recipe in pounds of potatoes and translate that into one potato.

Ingredients
1 medium russet potato
2 garlic cloves, peeled, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
sea salt & pepper
2 slices bacon, chopped
grated Parmesan cheese
butter (about 1 tablespoon)

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Butter 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Place garlic cloves and cilantro in bottom of prepared baking dish. Combine cream, coarse salt, and white pepper in large bowl.

Using V-slicer or mandoline, thinly slice potato into rounds. Immediately add potatoes to bowl with cream mixture, turning to coat potatoes. Arrange potato slices evenly over in baking dish, reserving cream mixture in bowl. Repeat layering with remaining fennel slices, then remaining potato slices. Pour cream mixture in bowl over potatoes in baking dish. Toss any remaining garlic and cilantro on top. Dot with butter cubes.*

Bake scalloped potatoes until almost tender when pierced with knife, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Top with bacon and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Increase oven temperature to 425°F.Bake until potatoes are tender and top is deep golden brown, about 20 minutes longer. Remove from oven and let rest 15 minutes.

*I did not dot mine with butter, but doesn't that sound delicious.

It didn't come out just like scalloped potatoes but was crunchy on top and deliciously creamy on the bottom. A solid experiment and one that I'll replicate in the future! Enjoy!