The real deal – gratin dauphinois

450g/1lb waxy potatoes – peeled and sliced

no thicker than a two penny piece

300ml/10fl oz/½ pint of double cream

unsalted butter for greasing your dish

knobs of unsalted butter to scatter over the

completed gratin – a 30g slice divided into six

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.

Hints and tips and kitchen kit up next ...

Zhuzh your leftovers … and the real deal

Whether you opt to make the cheats' version or the real Gratin Dauphinois 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.

It has to be the easiest and tastiest Monday evening supper ever.

It was the custom in France back in the day to serve an authentic dauphinois as a first course on its own and then followed by meats as outlined above and a salad.

I remember years ago watching James Martin make a huge dishful of dauphinois – deliberately creating leftovers - as a guide the dish measured 23x23x5cms/9x9x2”. The next day he re-heated what was left, still in its original dish, preheating the oven 140fan/160c/Gas 4 for 15 minutes, to crisp the edges - he then promptly devoured the remains straight from the dish. There's only one drawback – the dish will have to be soaked before washing properly – is it worth it – without question!

There are heaps of recipes out there for dauphinois – the one I use belongs to Elizabeth David and in her immortal words, defending extravagance …

“if it seems to the thrifty minded outrageously

extravagant to use half a pint of cream to one pound

of potatoes, I can only say that to me it seems a more

satisfactory way of enjoying cream than pouring it over

tinned peaches or chocolate mousse”

Taken from “French Provincial Cooking” published

in 1960 – that's 60 years ago – gulp!

Absolutely spot on.

Now for the real deal a la Elizabeth David …

The final photos and advantages using the “cheats' way”

 Bake for 30 minutes until it looks like this :

AFTER THE OVEN

after the oven – ready to devour

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

of cheese and cream!

MY FAVOURITE COMFORT BOWL

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.

Next – zhuzh your leftovers and the real deal!

Assembly - the cheats' way

 The best way to illustrate assembly is to give you 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 photos and the advantages to follow

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!

The back-burner ideas list

 … and here we are again – another lockdown.

When I thought about the back-burner stuff I had in mind the Christmas holidays – however it may be that the ideas might come in handy now and not for the back-burner after all.

Over the last months lots of us have struggled getting to grips with cooking at home - at the beginning it was a challenge and even, dare I say, fun. The trouble is that we're all now fed up and weary of being confined - the restaurants and pubs are on hold again and it's back to our own kitchen.

Boredom weakens our resolve and the temptation to throw food on a plate willy-nilly and to eat badly is all too easy. What might help is a new piece of kit which almost does the work for you in that its shape tailors how you serve food and the amount too.

Do you own decent sized bowls aka deep pasta bowls? If no, then you might want to consider making an investment – they are excellent pieces of kit for the winter months. I've used mine many times.

Here's an example :

the bowl measures 29cms/11½”

the broad rim 5cms/2”

the cutter measures 10cms/4”

and is a perfect size to place a circle of food

You don't have to be absolutely accurate – the photo and measurements are meant as a guide - it's easier to centralise a portion and then build upon it.

Even the most enthusiastic and committed of cooks lose the will and run out of ideas sooner or later so, in an attempt to raise your spirits coming next is the basis for a comfort bowl of weekend food that hasn't been thrown onto a plate. It's not cheffy or fussy - it's easy and what you add to it is simply whatever you fancy.

Coming next – my favourite comfort bowl

Sidetracked … from the memory bank!

Frittata takes me back to the best breakfast I've ever eaten – in Jake's Grill, Portland, Oregon.

Admittedly it was a late breakfast – the ultimate indulgence – an omelette made with Oregon Dungeness Crab. Its season is December through to April – supplies are limited from then on. If you're ever in that neck of the woods treat yourself – it's still on the menu, served with breakfast potatoes.

Some may say it's extravagant to put crab in an omelette – hey, it's a treat and I say a little bit of what you fancy does you good!

I've also discovered that they serve a Dungeness Crab Benedict – what a glorious thought!

I wouldn't normally mention Christmas yet awhile but it has been such a strange year nothing is “normal” as we know it so anything goes! I'm suggesting “back-burner” ideas that might appeal when you want to push the boat out. A crab benedict sounds like a great place to begin.

Add a packet of buttermilk muffins to your shopping list - you can stash in them in the freezer - they don't take up too much space - ready to toast and butter – add the crabmeat, not forgetting a drop of lemon juice and a sprinkle of celery salt and black pepper and then drizzle generously with a mornay sauce.

As I've said previously a mornay sauce is definitely less stressful than Hollandaise and to serve it with fish is a marriage made in heaven. Not for nothing did Wheeler's, the famous fish restaurant include a mornay in their sauce list to accompany their fabulous fish dishes so why not over crab for a Christmas morning breakfast!

If you like the idea then you might want to check out your supermarket ahead of the game – most sell crab meat – white or a mixture of white and brown and some is suitable for freezing which would be a good idea. Crab meat is also available in tins. If you're feeling very extravagant then you could buy it direct from specialist seafood suppliers – from Orkney to Folkstone and Cornwall to Cromer (in Norfolk) there's so much choice out there!

The “back-burner” ideas list begins ...