Saturday, 8 February 2025

You've heard of twice cooked chips …

... here are twice cooked roast potatoes!

The easiest way to show you, is as a guide :


I peeled 3 medium sized Maris Piper

potatoes, weighing 250-270g each and cut into

a total of 16 roasties (4 to 6 depending on size of

potato) and roasted for 20 minutes in a

pre-heated oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6, then turned

and repeated. It doesn't matter that there's a variation

in colour


I'd already used half of the roasties to serve with

a supper earlier in the week and set aside, wrapped

in foil and fridged the remaining half to “twice cook”

to serve with anything you fancy!


The set aside half of the part roasted potatoes – 8

cut vertically gave me 22 “mini”

roasties ready to “twice cook”


Roast the potatoes for 20 minutes in a pre-heated

oven as above


Twice cooked roasties, ready to serve!



It's definitely worth planning for “deliberate leftovers” - why make work for yourself.

Now for some winter warmers!


Saturday, 1 February 2025

The real deal – Gratin Dauphinoise …

 … a photo guide

thinly sliced potatoes – I used Charlotte's


rinsed thoroughly and dried in a clean

tea towel


prepped and ready for the oven


out of the oven, ready to roll!


Pure decadence – if you want to show off this is the way to do it. Serve with slow cooked beef cheeks and roasted carrots and parsnips – or – a veggie roast! (See The Veggie Roast)

Finally with the humble spud … you've heard of twice cooked chips ...



The real deal – Gratin Dauphinoise

Now for the real deal ...


450g/1lb waxy potatoes – peeled and sliced

no thicker than a two penny piece -

you can use your new holder!


300ml/10fl oz/½ pint of double cream

or for a plant alternative use Elmlea 100%

Plant Double Alternative to crea


unsalted butter for greasing your dish

knobs of unsalted butter to scatter over the

completed gratin – a 30g slice divided into six

or for a plant alternative use Flora Plant unsalted

butter


2 cloves of roasted garlic


celery salt and black pepper to season


Pre-heat the oven 130f/150c/Gas 2.

Rinse the potatoes thoroughly in cold water, shake them dry in a clean tea towel. Grease the baking dish generously with unsalted butter and add the garlic.

Layer the potatoes in your dish, season well, pour over the cream and then add the knobs of butter.

Bake in the oven for 1½ hours. Set your timer for 1 hour 20 minutes – for the remaining 10 minutes turn the oven up to high for a golden crust.


Yum!

Saturday, 25 January 2025

The final fotos …

and the advantages using the cheats version

Bake for 30 minutes until it looks like this :


after the oven – ready to devour

I'm really sorry you don't get the waft

of cheese and cream!


my favourite comfort bowl


It's a great way to make use of baked jacket potatoes – as I'm fond of saying, if my oven is turned on I make the best use of the space and so always bake at least four potatoes, sometimes six at a time. All you have to do is peel and slice – what's not to love.

The Alfredo sauce can be made ahead and fridged until ready to use.

It's fast and it's easy – it may not be authentic but if you've not got the time it takes to prep and cook the real deal then this is for you.

The perfect antidote to winter!

Now for the real deal ...

The best way …

... to illustrate assembly is with a photo guide :

thinly sliced cooked jackets – baked at your

convenience, then cooled – peeled and sliced at

your convenience too


here's the dish – greased generously with unsalted

butter and then the roasted garlic, dotted around

my dish is cast iron and measures 24cms/9½” x 17cms/6½”

x 5cms/2” deep


Pre-heat the oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6 when you are ready to bake.


you'll get two layers of potato, divide in half, place

the first layer in the bottom of the dish, add a sprinkle

of celery salt and black pepper then spread half the

quantity of Alfredo sauce – repeat!


the final fotos and the advantages



Saturday, 18 January 2025

Let's get a move on!

Weekend suppers should be special but not involve hours of prep and stress. Everyone has a favourite “comfort” ingredient and mine has to be potatoes. Probably my favourite indulgent potato dish is Gratin Dauphinoise - the only trouble is it's a lot of work and takes a long time to cook.

Here's my solution – cheat!


Dauphinoise – the cheats way


3 large jacket potatoes, baked, cooled then

peeled and sliced thinly – as a guide 500g


I used Maris Piper potatoes, they become waxy in texture when baked and are easy to slice thinly and become sticky - easy to arrange.


a sprinkle of celery salt and black pepper

two roasted cloves of garlic

large knob of unsalted butter for greasing

400ml double cream


You'll need a heavy earthenware or cast iron

serving dish


Alfredo Sauce


double the quantities given in the original recipe


50g unsalted butter

400ml double cream

100g freshly grated Parmesan

freshly ground black pepper



Gently heat the butter and the cream together, stirring until the butter has melted, then add the Parmesan.

Slowly bring to a gentle boil, turn down the heat and simmer, stir continuously for a minute or so until you have a smooth, creamy sauce, season.

This sauce can be made ahead, cooled, boxed and fridged or you can freeze it.


You can adapt this to a plant based recipe using:


50g Flora Plant unsalted butter

400ml Elmlea 100% Plant Double Alternative

to cream

100g Parmesan alternative – for example

Violife Parmesan style


The simple things in life are the best!

To illustrate ...

Gratin Dauphinoise – the cheats version …

but before I begin here's a tip or three!

You can make a larger dauphinoise using the dish measurements already given in “Zhuzh your leftovers” and upping the recipe – 1.350g/3lb of potatoes and adding 725ml/1¼ pints of of cream – ensure your dish is filled to within 2cms/¾” from the top. The authentic recipe will follow!

You can save yourself time if you like prepping ahead. I peeled the potatoes, placing them immediately into a bowl of cold water, ready to rinse and dry. I didn't use a mandoline – unless you're proficient and a lover of washing up difficult kit with deadly blades I'd suggest a smaller, but effective alternative – an onion & potato holder. The holder secures the peeled potato thus enabling you to slice the potatoes thinly and evenly.

Here it is :



You can pay as little as £2 – I chose the one shown because it's food grade stainless steel - £7.99 – more robust for frequent use!

As for the number of serves you'll get – for the smaller version it depends on the appetites so could be 3 or 4 – I'd go 3 but it depends on what else you're serving. The larger version will give you between 6 or 8.

Whether you opt to make the cheats' version or the “real deal” Gratin Dauphinoise it would take your leftover roast of beef, pork or chicken (or a Quorn alternative for the veggies) to a whole new level. It doesn't have to be leftover roast, you could choose a selection of charcuterie i.e. a combination of cooked and cured meats – ham hock or gammon would be perfect too. I'd definitely serve with a relish - beetroot would be an excellent choice – the sharpness of the beetroot against the richness of either version - cheats or real deal.

A useless bit of information for you - it was the custom in France back in the day to serve a dauphinoise as a first course on its own and then followed by meats as outlined above and a salad – every day is a school day!

Let's get a move on!