It’s CHRISTMAS!

Festive dauphinois 2

I am basically Mrs Claus at this point. I love Christmas SO MUCH, because when else is it acceptable to have quality street for breakfast and an espresso martini as your morning coffee? In my family, we love our festive feasts so I have to keep thinking up new ideas for how to keep it fresh – so the festive dauphinois potato was born.

The Cream

Festive dauphinois 3

A traditional dauphinois is made with a mixture of milk and cream, but that just isn’t decadent enough for me. For this recipe I’m feeding around 8-10 people, so you can scale it up or down as needed for your size of tray.

The ingredients for this recipe are:

  • 600ml/20fl oz double cream
  • 2kg/4.5lbs Maris Piper or Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled
  • 1 large sprig of sage
  • 1 whole star anise
  • 1 stick cinnamon
  • Pinch ground cloves (or 2-3 whole cloves)
  • Pinch ground allspice (or 2-3 berries)
  • Grating of whole nutmeg
  • 3 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
  • 1 wheel of Camembert, sliced
  • Sage leaves, for garnish
  • Good pinch of salt and white pepper

I know that seems a lot, but I promise it’s worth it! You can spice up your spuds however you like to make it your own depending on when you make it. Curry powder is a great addition if you’re making an Indian style dish that needs some potato goodness!

Tip all of the cream into a saucepan with the sage, star anise, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice, sliced garlic and a big pinch of salt and pepper. Pop the pan on the stove and bring to a bubble, then turn down to a low heat to thicken. While your cream reduces slightly and darkens in colour, crack on with your spuds.

The Spuds

Festive dauphinois 1

Now for the tatties. Grab all of your peeled Maris Pipers or Yukon Golds and cut into 1cm/1/3rd inch slices. Place in a large bowl and pour over the thickened cream through a sieve to catch the whole spices and herbs. You can either let it cool for a few moments or pop on a pair of gloves, then toss the slices in the infused cream.

Now at this point you have two options. You can either layer each slice into the dish individually, so you end up with perfect layers, or just chuck them all in and flatten it out. It makes no difference apart from aesthetically, so it depends how cheffy you want to be! Whatever you do, make sure the potato slices are flat in the baking dish. Slice the camembert in half along the side, then cut each half wheel into thick fingers.

Arrange the slices of camembert on top of the dauphinois and alternate with large sage leaves.  Loosely cover the dish with foil, trying not to let the foil touch the cheesy goodness on top. Bake for around 1 hour at 160ºc/320ºf until the potatoes are tender all the way through and the cream is thickened.

Remove the foil from the top and return the dish to the oven until golden brown and bubbling on top. Slice up big portions of your delicious festive dauphinois potato for Crimbo dindins and watch everyone ask for the recipe. P.S point them in the direction of my Youtube channel for the full video recipe bab.