I finally have some head-space to post in my favourite place … my blog.
The past few months have been emotionally and physically very intense and demanding.
Although in the past months I cooked and tasted amazing food, I posted more on my Instagram account than here.
But a few weeks ago I promised that I would post at least a recipe each month but January is all about to get me thin and fit and I wanted to post one of the most indulgent side dishes I ever prepared. So I decided to wait for the beginning of February and some of the coldest days of this winter. And this dish will definitely warm you up.
My family love it and since I learned to make it at catering college, thank you Perth College UHI, is now a regular dish in my repertoire for every special occasion.
It’s great with every kind of meat, with fish or even on its own. I often make a double batch to have plenty of leftovers to enjoy. The most laborious part is to cut thinly the potatoes, you can do it with a mandoline if you have it but I find it quite therapeutic to do it by hand and improve my knife skills.
Ingredients
- 700ml double cream
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1kg King Edward or Maris Piper potatoes
- 150g grated gruyère cheese
- 10g fresh thyme
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6.
- Tip the double cream, garlic cloves and the thyme into a large saucepan and bring to a simmer. Then remove from the heat and leave it to infuse for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes sieve the cream to remove the garlic and thyme and pour it back in the pan. Season it.
- Peel and then slice the potatoes very finely, about 3mm, add them to the cream and simmer for about 10 mins.
- Gently stir to separate the potato and stop it sinking and catching on the bottom of the pan.
- Place half of the potatoes and cream in an ovenproof dish.
- Sprinkle half of the cheese and cover with the rest of the potatoes and cream mixture.
- Scatter over the rest of the gruyère cheese then bake for 30 mins until the potatoes are soft and the top is golden brown – increase the heat for 5 mins if not brown enough.
