Oven-Baked Potato Casserole with Fried Onion

Name: Potato Casserole with Fried Onion in the Oven
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 1 h
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: Potatoes 0.7 kg; Onions 3-4; Eggs 2; Milk 0.5 cup (100 ml); Butter 70 g; Salt, black pepper to taste; Vegetable oil for greasing the dish; Dill, fresh vegetables, sauce for serving

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I have always liked oven-baked potato casserole with fried onion as an alternative to ordinary mashed potatoes. Onions were probably rarely fried for plain potatoes. In the village, my grandmother preferred to fry onion with a few small cracklings, and it came out fragrant and sweet, really tasty. The fried onion was sprinkled over the potatoes. And the casserole was baked with layers of mashed potatoes alternating with layers of fried onion.

People usually bake foods that are close to a puree in texture. That way you can avoid a binder (eggs, sour cream, flour, starch and so on) or cut it down a lot. For a cottage cheese casserole you add a little milk and eggs, while pasta needs more of them. Most foods are hard to bake without some kind of binder.

What people value most in a casserole is the crust that forms on top. Famous dishes such as lasagna and moussaka, which are typical casseroles at heart, are always made with a tasty cheese crust or brushed with sour cream or a sauce that hardens and browns as it bakes. Often it is enough to brush the surface with a simple beaten egg, and the result will exceed all expectations.

It is worth noting that mashed potatoes very often serve as the binder. American cuisine has a popular casserole of pieces of fried meat or fish with vegetables and mashed potatoes. It is quite simple to make and is almost always served in small bistros. A simple casserole made of plain mashed potatoes is more popular here. It is made with onion, with ground meat, with vegetables, and there are many other variations.

For a casserole, use tubers with a high starch content. Puree from such potatoes is more uniform and holds its shape better when baked. Purely as a personal preference, I like the flesh of the potato to be yellow.

Boil the potatoes for mashing in a small amount of water and in large pieces. This reduces starch loss. The puree should be “dry”, so don’t add water to it the way you do when making a side dish. Be sure to add butter, salt and just a little milk. We use eggs as the binder. The fried onion is cooked separately in butter. After you layer everything in the baking dish, the casserole is baked in the oven until done.

8 ingredientsTo the recipe

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Ingredients

4 servings

Potatoes 0.7 kg
Onions 3-4
Eggs 2
Milk 0.5 cup
(100 ml)
Butter 70 g
Salt, black pepper to taste
Vegetable oil for greasing the dish
Dill, fresh vegetables, sauce for serving

Step-by-step recipe

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The potato casserole will be soft and tender if the potatoes have a high starch content. I love this kind of potato in general: it tastes better, cooks better, and potato pancakes made from it turn out many times tastier. The amount of onion is up to you. I’ll put it this way: the more, the better. By the way, I read somewhere that the sharper the onion, the more sugar it contains, and the better it fries.
Peel the potatoes and cut them into large pieces. Put them in a pot and cover with water, just above the level of the potatoes. Don’t salt the water; it is better to add salt to the puree before assembling the casserole. Put the pot on the heat and bring the water to a boil. Cook the potatoes over low heat with the lid slightly ajar. The water should not bubble hard, which keeps the pieces whole.
Potatoes cook in 15-20 mins. Meanwhile, fry the onion. Peel the onions and cut them into thick strips lengthwise. In a frying pan, melt a small piece of butter; 20-25 grams will be enough. Fry the onion over low heat until soft and lightly browned. The goal is to make the onion golden and soft, with no noticeable firmness left in the pieces.
Check the potatoes by piercing a piece with the tip of a knife. If you feel no resistance when you press, they are done. Drain off all the liquid. Then mash the potatoes into a puree any way you like. It will be a little coarse, since it doesn’t contain enough moisture.
Add salt to the potatoes to taste, then mash again. Let the puree cool: it should be noticeably warm but not hot, otherwise the eggs will curdle. Then add all the remaining butter. Crack two eggs into a cup and whisk them. The casserole is made with a crust, so leave a little of the egg mixture for brushing. Set aside 2 tbsp of the mixture and pour all the rest into the mashed potatoes.
Mash the potatoes thoroughly until completely smooth. Then pour in half a cup of milk (100 ml) and stir. In the end, the puree should have the consistency of a thick side dish. Transfer the fried onion to a bowl and add 2-3 tbsp of the prepared puree. Stir: the potato will bind the onion, so the casserole won’t fall apart across its thickness when you cut and serve it.
Grease a baking dish of a suitable size with a little vegetable oil. Put half of the mashed potatoes into the dish. Spread them with a spatula in an even layer from wall to wall. On top, put all of the onion and puree mixture and spread it out the same way.
Put all the remaining potatoes on top and level them. Whisk the leftover egg mixture well. Brush the surface of the potatoes thoroughly with a brush. As it bakes, the egg forms a thin film that holds the casserole pieces together when serving, and it browns a little. Preheat the oven to 180-190°C and put the dish with the potatoes in it.
The potato casserole bakes for 20-30 mins. Since all the components are already ready to eat, it is simply impossible to underbake it. When heated, the eggs set quickly and bind the filling into a whole. The brushed top browns slightly, though that is optional.
Take the finished casserole out of the oven and cut it into portions with a knife right in the dish. Transfer the pieces to plates with a spatula. For a side, I recommend sliced vegetables: tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots. Be sure to sprinkle with finely chopped dill.
The casserole is served hot as a main course. If you like, you can serve it with a mushroom or meat sauce. Usually the sauce is poured over the dish before serving. The casserole can also be used as a side dish, an alternative to ordinary mashed potatoes.