Dauphinois Potatoes

MUNCH RATING: 5/5

CHANGES TO THE RECIPE:
I used the Rachel Allen recipe for Garlic Layered Potatoes from her book Rachel’s Favourite Food for Friends (which Steve bought for me many moons ago and I am sorry to say that I haven’t used very much!) for the ingredients and quantities, but I changed the method. This was mainly because I wanted to speed things up and also because I thought her way required too much faffing about with lots of layering of the potatoes and dotting with the garlic and butter. My way is a lot more slap dash, but at least you won’t want to commit hari-kiri before you’ve even put it in the oven and it still tastes great.

Even though I was only cooking for Steve and myself, I made a full quantity which should serve 5-6 people because I love potatoes and I knew that any leftovers would be just as good reheated. We ate half of the whole thing with steak and asparagus and the other half with a chicken, mushroom and pea dish that I made up (a recipe might get posted if I can remember the quantities!).

The photo above is of the reheated half and as you can see it really is a dish that doesn’t suffer from a night in the chiller. 30 minutes at Gas 6 should do the trick and keep it covered with foil if it is already quite brown from its first visit to the oven.

• Serves: 5-6 (but more realistically 4 greedy people)
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C
• You will need: a shallow wide gratin/ovenproof dish (I used a 10x10 inch square dish)

Ingredients:

• 250ml (8¾ fl.oz) double cream
• 2 large cloves of garlic, crushed
• 25g (1oz) butter
• salt and pepper
• 800g (1¾ lb) peeled potatoes (weigh when peeled), sliced ½cm (¼ inch) thick
• 2 small pinches of freshly ground nutmeg (I left this out)
• 40g (1½ oz) finely grated Parmesan Cheese (I used Twineham Grange)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C.
2. Grease your ovenproof dish liberally with butter.
3. Place your cream, butter, garlic and salt and pepper in a medium saucepan and bring to the boil.
4. Add the potatoes and heat for a few minutes until the potatoes have absorbed some of the cream.
5. Pour the potatoes into your ovenproof dish (arranging the top layer as neatly as possible!), then scatter the Parmesan over the top.
6. Cover with tin foil and place in the oven for 1 hour, removing the foil after 30 minutes. The potatoes are done when you can easily stick a knife into them and the top should be golden brown.

COOK’S NOTES:

• Use a mandoline or V slicer to slice the potatoes to an even thickness. Go and look in the back of your cupboards, I’m sure you have one gathering dust!
• Use a dish that is big enough so that the potatoes are only about 3 layers deep, otherwise it will take longer to cook.