Dauphinoise potatoes

Not my best night on Masterchef last night (I will post a diary my wife kept once I'm off) but my potatoes went down well and I've had several requests how I did them ...

Ingredients:

• 4 medium potatoes (Maris Piper or King Edward)
• Garlic
• 200ml cream
• 200ml milk

Chop several garlic cloves finely and start browning it in a pan, once translucent and starting to brown add cream and heat slowly, adding milk when simmering then take off heat. Leave for 30 minutes to infuse. This creates a lovely nutty, garlicy infusion ...

Peel and Mandolin potatoes finely and layer in dish with salt & pepper between each layer (use plenty of seasoning ... more than you think you should !). Do not wash the slices as the starch will bind the dish together when it cooks.

Strain garlic cream and pour into dauphinoise dish till potatoes are covered. Cover with foil and place in the oven at 200C for 30 min (adjust times depending on depth of potatoes). The foil stops it burning.

Take foil off Dauphinoise and press down potatoes firmly (this is key to the dish binding and not becoming a collection of potatoe slices floating in cream !).

Put back in over at 160C and check every 15min, pressing down. Take out when brown on top and the cream mixture is absorbed.

This freezes well, we make an oven tray full at home and freeze what we don't eat, reheat at 160C.