Lazy Dauphinoise

I love Dauphinoise potatoes. Love them. So do my husband and ten month old. However they can take ages painstakingly finely chopping and arranging potatoes then cooking them slowly. 

I wondered tonight if it was possible to speed the process up... I also wondered if it was possible to include parsnips (we have many). This was the result.

I used:

700g white potatoes (peeled)

175g parsnips (peeled) optional

60g butter

150ml double cream

Some milk (no more than 50ml, probably less)

Cast iron roasting tin (Le Creuset)

Prep 10-15 min

Cook 50-60 min

Preheat oven to 190°C fan

1. Pop the cast iron dish on the hob. Add half the butter and heat gently until butter is melted.

2. Finely slice the potatoes, do this however you like. Your food processor might have a mandolin setting, or the side of your grater, or a cheese slice, or a knife. They don't have to be neat, just do them quickly. Potatoes can blacken if left sliced too long. I couldn't mandolin the parsnips so I used a knife for them. 

3. Whack the potato (and parsnip) slices  into the buttery dish and stir with a flat spatula (I used a wooden one) to try and get as much coated as you can. Pour over the cream and stir again. Add a little milk if it doesn't mix well enough or you feel you need more liquid to get better distribution of butter and cream. Pat down the potato (and parsnip) slices so the top appears flat.

4. Melt the remaining 30g butter in microwave or over a bowl of hot water. Use a pastry brush to coat the top slices with butter.

5. Bake in oven for 50min to 1hr. Potatoes should be soft and golden brown with the thin edges of potato slices just catching.

6. Eat immediately. We had it with chicken wrapped in bacon and fresh veg!