Potato gratin

With melted Lancashire cheese & creamy, garlicy Dijon sauce

This turned out to be a surprise. Partly as I’d made this to go with smoked Bavarian ham for my sups. Instead, I kept some aside and added single/light cream with half a teaspoon of Dijon mustard and a crushed garlic clove. That was poured over the top and baked until the sauce was bubbling. Turned on the grill, scattered grated Lancashire cheese over the top and grilled it until nicely golden. This was just great with my leftover marinated lamb kebab. The cheese is sweet and tangy, or so it says on its pack. It’s ages since I’ve bought Lancashire as I normally go for mature Cheddar instead. However, on Saturday whilst in one of my local stores I usually have a peep at the reduced items on their shelf. Normally I don’t find anything, but there was a solitary pack of this Lancashire cheese! It really is good stuff. So that was grabbed. And glad I’ve made this as it’s a cheese I’ll definitely buy again.

Ingredients:

Serves 1 – 2

• olive oil
• ½ x organic very low salt vegetable stock cube
• 100ml (0.21 US pt lqd) x water
• ½ x bay leaf
• about 300g (10.58 oz) x white or red potatoes, scrubbed, peeled and sliced into discs (more potato may be needed according to size of casserole)
• 1 x garlic clove, trimmed, peeled and either crushed or finely chopped
• single/light cream, about 40ml (0.08 US pt lqd)
• ¹/3 - ½ x tsp Dijon mustard, start with the lesser amount and add more to personal taste
• up to 100g (3.52 oz) x Lancashire cheese, grated

Measurements within brackets above are approximate only.

Instructions:

• Prep the stock with the bay leaf.
• Preheat oven to 200°C, 400°F or Gas 6.
• There are two ways of cooking this. Firstly, the way I went with this, was to prepare the potatoes and stock with a thin layer of cheese in the centre. Those were baked until the potatoes were soft and the stock piping hot (about 20 minutes). Using leftovers the following day I poured the cream, Dijon mustard and crushed garlic over the potatoes and sprinkled over a little oil so the potatoes on top would crisp up slightly. That way I could really taste the garlic. Otherwise, use the instruction directly below. And the last instruction for grilling extra cheese on top.
• As potatoes are prepared layer them in an ovenproof dish or casserole (mine measures 14cm or 5½ in in diameter with its base sloping to 11cm or about 4½ in). Add some of the cheese to a middle layer before adding the rest of the potatoes. Pour in the stock but don’t cover the potatoes completely as the stock can bubble over and leave a mess in your oven. To prevent this from happening place casserole on a baking tray. You can either mix the single/light cream together with the Dijon mustard to personal taste and pour over the top layer of potatoes at this stage or bake the potatoes with stock only (see instruction directly above) until soft. Then add the cream mixture and continue to bake. Either way do sprinkle or spray the top layers of potatoes with oil so they will go slightly golden and crisp. Bake in an electric oven second shelf up for about 20 – 30 minutes, or until potatoes are nicely golden on top and the sauce is bubbling.
• Preheat grill/broiler to 200°C, 400°F or Gas 6.
• Carefully add the grated cheese to the top of the potatoes, and grill until nicely golden. With my electric grill within my oven I have to keep the door open otherwise the heating element won’t get hot enough to grill the cheese.

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