POTATO DAUPHINOIS

I cooked the most revolting recipe last night - Roast Salmon with Herbs and Cheddar Polenta - it was so disappointing. I overdid the herbs so it tasted like eating a forrest and then the polenta was so difficult to whisk it tasted like school canteen lumpy mashed potato. I added so much butter, cheese and milk and repeatedly tasted it so must have consumed about 1000 calories and still it was totally rubbish. 

I didn't want to inflict such grimness on my lovely readers so the recipe went straight in the bin and instead, just like they do on Blue Peter, here is something I made earlier - Christmas in fact!

As I have mentioned before I am not a traditional roast fan or a potato lover and so for Christmas lunch I decided to cook potato dauphinois as we needed to have some kind of carb and this I like as it is covered in cheese! I had to improvise as I was making it in France and did not have all the ingredients however I will write out the correct recipe here as it is absolutely excellent and perfect for your family or friends. I made this for a dinner party last year and served it with a rib of beef & green salad, and it went down a treat.

Ingredients for 8 people:

butter for greasing
3 garlic cloves, crushed
250ml of milk
250ml double cream (I had to use creme fraiche - it worked but double cream is so much better)
1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg (had no idea what this was in French)!
900g potatoes, very thinly sliced
freshly ground black pepper
180g mature cheddar, grated (you won't be shocked to hear I used double this but it is up to you - plus I used a selection of cheese as the french aren't into cheddar)!

Rub a little butter round an ovenproof dish (approx. 25 x 25cm - mine was smaller) and then preheat the oven to 180 C fan, 200 C, gas mark 6.

Put the crushed garlic, milk, cream, nutmeg, potatoes and a grind of black pepper into a large saucepan.

Bring to the boil stirring frequently so the potatoes don't stick and then simmer for a around 3-4 minutes to thicken it slightly.

Remove from the heat and stir in half the cheese.

Empty it all into the greased ovenproof dish and top with the rest of the cheese.

Finally bake for 50 minutes to an hour until the top is browning and the potatoes are tender…I did an hour and the potatoes definitely needed it.

As I write this now Arabella is watching me begging to make this again as it really is delicious and it is so so easy. I would recommend trying it - it is perfect with every kind of meat although I would quite happily eat it on it's own (and on my own). Once a piglet, always a piglet!!! I think I will be cooking this with a roast chicken very very soon. 

Just to let you know, it is freezable, you can prepare it beforehand and it tastes great reheated…if you have any left!!