The humble potato

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 “Dauphinoise” the only trouble is it's a lot of work and takes a long time to cook.

For the uninitiated Dauphinoise is a classic French potato dish made simply with thin slices of potato and double cream. It takes time and technique since the potatoes have to be raw wafer thin slices and to achieve said thin slices you need to use a mandolin – not an easy piece of kit but we'll come to that later.

In the meantime, 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.

Assembly and photos next!