A Rich Cabinet

Recipe ideas from Recipe*zaar

Dammit, you virtually have a meal. Especially if you’ve got some cream or milk as well.

I love potato gratins and bakes. (I love almost everything that involves potato, but let’s focus here.)

Take your waxy potatoes, slice them fairly thinly (about 1/4″) and boil them for a few minutes until cooked (but still firm - you don’t want them overcooked). Then you can layer them in a ovenproof dish of some kind, with plenty of grated cheese (cheddar is good, or similar types of hard cheese) between the layers. That could quite easily be it, especially as a side dish. Just spread a bit more grated cheese on top, put it in a hot oven or under a grill for perhaps ten minutes. Yum.

But even better, you could pour cream (or creme fraiche diluted to pouring consistency with water or milk) or even just milk over the potato/cheese layers and cook it for slightly longer at about 200C till it’s bubbling all the way through and golden brown on top (the liquid should only come about 2/3 or 3/4 of the way up the layers so you get a crispy top layer) . If you have excess liquid, mop it up with some bread.

Then you could layer the potato and cheese with other things to make a more substantial meal - finely sliced mushroom is very good; sliced leeks that you blanched with the potatoes; flaked tinned fish; diced ham. You can slice tomatoes and put them on top too. (Tomatoes, cheese and potatoes is another of those heavenly combinations.)

All very simple and satisfying.