Potatoes cooked in milk
There’s a wonderful diversity with potatoes. Not only are there hundreds of delicious varieties, but each culture has found their own excellent ways of cooking them.
Recently I cooked small potatoes whole in a mutton curry, the spices and sauce slowly seeping into them as they cooked. Or for something more simple, try them just boiled with cauliflower, lightly crushed and doused with new season’ s olive oil. I also like potatoes served as a dish in itself: roasted with herbs, chunks of lemon and red onions or there’s an Iranian recipe in which you scoop out the inside and bake them, stuffed with spiced minced lamb.
One method, which is a classic, is potatoes cooked in milk. A great way to enliven potatoes which have been stored since last year’s harvest.
The milk gives them a creamier texture and a little more body and richness.
Serves 4 as a side dish
Ingredients
- 500g firm waxy potatoes
- 500ml milk
- A few sprigs of thyme, leaves picked from the stalk
- Bay leaves
- Salt and pepper
- Nutmeg
- A few pieces of butter
Instructions
- Peel the potatoes and slice them into pieces at least 1cm thick.
- Put them into a saucepan and cover with the milk. Add the thyme and bay, salt and pepper. Simmer gently for about 15 minutes, being careful not to boil the milk, until the potatoes are just cooked through.
- Heat the oven to 200°C.
- Remove the bay leaves and lift the potatoes into an oven proof dish which fits them snugly so that there are a couple of layers.
- Grate over a little nutmeg, season with a bit more salt and pepper, a few spoonfuls of the milk and put some pieces of butter on top.
- Cook for another 10 minutes or so, or until the top has started to brown and the milk has soaked into the potatoes.
- Excellent served with roast chicken.
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