I fly to Florida in six hours for a healthy dose of sunshine and family. But first I’m headed to Christmas dinner with friends, presenting an excellent opportunity to unload some of the potatoes that are piling up from my winter CSA share.

Potato Gratin with Mustard & Gruyere

• 3 cups heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon dried mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 10 white peppercorns, ground
• 1-2 teaspoons salt
• 1/3 pound good quality gruyere, grated
• 1 small bunch chives, minced
• 4 large potatoes
• 2 tablespoons butter

1. Preheat the oven to 375. Whisk the cream, mustard, nutmeg, salt and pepper in a large bowl. (Do not be tempted to use a medium bowl or you will be scraping potato starch and cream off of your counters. Take it from me.) Stir in half the gruyere and all but a tablespoon of the chives.
2. One by one, peel the potatoes and slice them into 1/8″ disks. (A mandoline will make this task infinitely faster.) Drop the potatoes into the cream mixture as you go, as this will prevent them from browning.
3. Grease a smallish baking dish with 1 tablespoon butter. (If, like me, you never remember to take the butter out to soften, just drop the butter in the dish and pop it in the oven for a minute or two.)
4. Spread the potatoes in the baking dish, reserving the most uniform slices for the top layer and making sure to scoop out most of the cheese as you go. Give everything a good press to even it out and then arrange your top layer of potatoes artfully. Pour the cream mixture over the top, sprinkle the remaining cheese on top, and dot with second tablespoon of butter.
5. Pop this in the oven and let cook for an hour or so until the top is a dark, crusty brown and the potatoes are presumably cooked through. (If you want to be exact about it, you could make sure a butter knife slides in easily.) Garnish with the remaining chives. WARNING: Your apartment will smell insanely good.

OK, I haven’t actually tried this yet, as I still have to transport it to Williamsburg along with myself and my suitcase. But, given the ingredients, I have trouble imagining it will not be delicious.