Deluxe Potato Gratin

Total Time: 1 hr 45 mins Preparation Time: 45 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• Servings: 2
• 700 g potatoes
• 3 -4 leeks
• 6 -8 slices streaky bacon
• 125 g mature hard cheese (cheddar is good)
• 600 -900 ml chicken stock
• 50 g butter
• 1 tablespoon mustard seeds
• 4 tablespoons creme fraiche
• sea salt
• black pepper
• 1/4 cup fresh sage leaf

Recipe

• 1 preheat the oven to 400 f or 200 degrees c.
• 2 peel the potatoes and slice thinly.
• 3 wash the starch off them and then pat dry in a cloth.
• 4 trim the leeks, discarding the coarse green ends, then slice thinly.
• 5 butter a gratin dish and put in half the potatoes and top with all the leeks.
• 6 cut the bacon into strips, fry until crisp, and then put the bacon over the leeks.
• 7 briefly fry the sage leaves in the leftover bacon fat until browned and crisp.
• 8 scatter over the leeks, along with the bacon fat.
• 9 grate the cheese directly over the top of the dish and then cover with the rest of the potatoes.
• 10 heat the stock and pour it over the potatoes until it reaches the top layer, but do not submerge them.
• 11 season with salt and pepper and dot with most of the remaining butter.
• 12 smear the last of the butter on a sheet of waxed paper and lay it, buttered side down, on top of the dish.
• 13 cook for 45 minutes.
• 14 remove and check with a skewer that the potatoes are nearly cooked.
• 15 mix the mustard with the creme fraiche and pour it over the gratin, smoothing with a rubber spatula to spread it evenly.
• 16 place the dish back in the oven without the paper for a further 15 minutes or until it is golden, bubbling and cooked through.
• 17 serve immediately.