This is a fantastic creamy gratin dish that works well with pretty much anything you want to pair it with. It also works well as a lunchtime leftover served hot and on its own.
In our haste to devour this dish I neglected to take a shot straight from the oven. So here it is with one portion remaining!
Ingredients
- 30g butter
- 6 shallots, thinly sliced
- 3 cloves of garlic, crushed into a paste
- 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
- 500ml double cream
- grated nutmeg, to season
- 1kg Desirée potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced (I slice up one potato with the lovely red skin still on to decorate the top)
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a saucepan, then add the shallots and thyme and cook for 10 mins until soft and jammy. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Pour in the cream and bring to the boil. Turn off the heat, season with nutmeg, a good twist of black pepper and leave to one side.
- Meanwhile, heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas mark 6. Place the potatoes in a big pan of cold water, bring to the boil, and then drain.
- Smear a gratin dish with a good coating of butter, then layer it up with the potatoes and cream, finishing with a neat layer of the red-skinned potatoes and a seriously good covering of cream and shallots.
- Bake for 60 mins or until golden brown and the shallots are starting to crisp up.
- Tuck in and enjoy. I served this with a fantastic piece of very rare fillet steak and a salad of rocket leaves dressed with balsamic and grated parmesan…Mmmm!
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
Number of servings (yield): 4
