Potatoes au Gratin, Two-Tone Style

DEAR SOS: The Dueling Potatoes served at the Beef Baron Restaurant at the Flamingo Hilton in Laughlin, Nev., are wonderful! Could you possibly get the recipe?

PATRICIA RINER

Thousand Palms

DEAR PATRICIA:

John Joost, the chef, sent this along. He hopes you find this recipe easy to follow. We bet that you will.

Send requests to Culinary SOS, Food Section, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012 or e-mail to: cindy.dorn@latimes.com.

Dueling Potatoes

Active Work Time: 30 minutes * Total Preparation Time: 3 hours

2 large baking potatoes (about 1 3/4 pounds)

1 large sweet potato (about 3/4 pound)

2 to 3 eggs

1 1/2 cups whipping cream

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 large shallot, minced

1 1/2 cups grated Cheddar cheese (about 6 ounces)

Salt, pepper

Peel the baking and sweet potatoes and slice them 1/8 inch thick.

Combine the eggs, whipping cream, garlic and shallot and blend well.

Heat the oven to 300 degrees. In a 13x9-inch baking dish, arrange 1 layer of sliced baking potatoes, then sprinkle them with some of the cheese and season to taste with salt and pepper. Top them with a layer of sweet potatoes, then more cheese, salt and pepper. Keep alternating layers until all potatoes are used, ending with a layer of cheese. Pour the cream mixture over the top and cover the pan with foil. Bake for 2 hours.

Remove the foil and bake until the potatoes are golden brown, another 40 minutes.

8 servings. Each serving: 323 calories; 206 mg sodium; 118 mg cholesterol; 17 grams fat; 10 grams saturated fat, 33 grams carbohydrates; 10 grams protein; 2.81 grams fiber.