Garlic Potato Bake

Potato bakes are a great addition to any meal, be it a Sunday lunch or a family barbecue. You get the best of two worlds with a crisp outside, and a rich and creamy inside. Potato bakes are also extremely versatile, and you can create your own recipe with a variety of ingredients – onions, mushrooms, chicken, sausages and much more.

Here we share one of our favourite (and easiest) recipes.

Ingredients

• Knob of soft butter
• 4 whole unpeeled garlic cloves
• 150 ml milk
• 142 ml carton double cream
• 2 sprigs of thyme or rosemary
• Pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
• 1 kg waxy potatoes, such as Desirée
• Salt and freshly ground
• black pepper
• 25 g parmesan cheese

Method

Preheat the oven to 160°C/140°C/Gas Mark 4

• Brush an 8cm square baking tin with butter, using a pastry brush or a basting brush, then line the base with a square of greaseproof paper.
• Using a garlic press, crush the garlic into a saucepan. You can then add the milk, cream, thyme or rosemary and nutmeg.
• Place over a medium heat and bring the mixture to boiling point. Remove from the heat, leave for the garlic to infuse into the liquid for 10 minutes.
• Peel the potatoes using your favourite peeler, and then slice the potatoes into rounds approximately the thickness of a coin. Layer half of the potatoes into the tin, adding a little salt and pepper in each layer as you go along.
• Remove the thyme or rosemary stalks from the garlic cream and stir well. Pour half over the potatoes, then repeat layering the potatoes into the tin.
• Finish with a neat layer of potatoes and pour over the remaining garlic cream.
• Finely grate the parmesan cheese using an acid-etched grater and place in the oven for 1-1¼ hours until the potatoes are tender and the top is golden.