Potato Bake with Sausage and Onion Recipe
This bake is something between a roasted dinner and a “fridge clean-out” – it uses basic ingredients you often already have at home. In Polish homes, dishes like this appear especially on colder days, when everyone craves something hearty and warming. It’s a great way to serve potatoes in a form other than just boiled.
This is a typically Polish-style bake: potatoes, sausage, onion and cream create a filling dish that easily replaces a two-course dinner. It’s a bit like a Sunday roast, but in the form of a single dish where every piece is soaked with sauce and herbs.
Chef's tips
The most common mistake is slicing the potatoes too thick – try to cut them really thin so they bake evenly and don’t stay hard in the middle. Season the cream-and-milk sauce more boldly than your intuition suggests, because potatoes soak up salt and pepper like a sponge and it’s easy to end up with a bland result. After baking, be sure to give the bake those 10 minutes of rest – cutting it right away will result in a crumbling portion and hot sauce running all over the stovetop.
How to serve
It tastes best with a simple sauerkraut salad or lightly pickled cucumbers, which cut through the richness of the sausage. To drink, serve stewed fruit compote or a light pale beer if you’re making it for a lazy Saturday lunch. It’s also a great choice for a meal after a long autumn walk or a trip to the mountains – brought to the table in the baking dish, it disappears faster than you can slice it.
Ingredients
- potatoes preferably waxy or for baking, firm - 800 g
- sausage good, semi-dried, sliced into half-moons - 300 g
- onion medium - 2 pieces
- cream 18% or 30% fat - 200 ml
- milk to thin the sauce - 100 ml
- yellow cheese grated - 150 g
- garlic pressed or finely chopped - 2 cloves
- oil for frying the sausage and onion - 1 tablespoon
- marjoram dried herb - 1 teaspoon
- salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 190°C (top and bottom heat). Lightly grease a baking dish with oil or butter.
- Peel the potatoes, rinse them and slice into thin rounds, about the thickness of a 2 zł coin. Try to keep them fairly even so they bake evenly.
- Peel the onions and slice into thin wedges. Slice the sausage into half-moons.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a frying pan. Add the sausage and fry for 4–5 minutes over medium heat until lightly browned and it releases some fat.
- Add the onion and fry together for another 5–7 minutes, stirring often, until the onion softens and starts to turn lightly golden. Remove from the heat.
- In a bowl, mix the cream, milk, garlic, marjoram, a pinch of salt and a generous amount of pepper. Taste the sauce – it should be distinctly seasoned, as the potatoes will absorb some of the flavor.
- Arrange the first layer of potato slices on the bottom of the baking dish, slightly overlapping. Lightly salt.
- Spread some of the sausage and onion mixture over the potatoes and drizzle with a few spoonfuls of the cream sauce. Repeat the layers, finishing with potatoes.
- Pour the remaining sauce evenly over the top of the bake, gently shake the dish so the sauce seeps between the layers.
- Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, remove the foil, sprinkle the top with grated cheese and bake for another 15 minutes, until the cheese is melted and lightly browned and the potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife.
- After taking the dish out of the oven, wait 10 minutes before cutting so the bake can set slightly and be easier to portion.
Storage
Store leftover bake covered in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat in the oven or microwave until hot all the way through; if reheating in the oven, cover with foil so it doesn’t dry out. The bake can also be frozen in portions for up to 2–3 months and reheated from thawed or frozen at a lower temperature.
