It is warm here in the kitchen, the oven on, a shallow dish of potatoes slowly baking in a deep puddle of cream, the scent of smoked garlic and tarragon a back-note to the day’s cooking.
The potato gratin – for that is what it is – will come to the table as a principal dish, the thin slices of potato layered with plump oyster mushrooms. To balance the richness, a crisp salad of bitter leaves, which will be used to mop the garlicky cream from our plates.
The gratin can be a side dish, too – perhaps to slices of cold roast from Sunday lunch, or grilled chicken. Once the nights draw in, I look for suppers that can be cooked on a low heat, where the sweet smell of dinner will pervade the kitchen for hours. At this time of year, dinner takes over even more than usual. Meals last longer and preparation is often more involved and time consuming. I cherish these days, when cooking starts an hour or more earlier in the day than usual and dinner goes on late into the night.
I am baking a cake, too: a shallow, square one like a classic traybake, with notes of soft brown sugar and vanilla, the sweet crumb interrupted with random spoonfuls of sweet mincemeat. It will be served as a cake for tea, but there is also a temptation to present it as a dessert with slices of citrus at its side. Christmas clementines will be my first choice.
This is also the cake for those who find the traditional Christmas recipe, too heavy. The flavours are just as festive, but the texture more sponge like than the classic fruit-filled Christmas cake. I have been known to serve it warm, too, in which case a jug of cream will come in handy.
Potato and mushroom gratin
I like to cook any potato gratin as slowly as possible, leaving the potatoes to take their time to swell with the garlicky cream. A shallow, wide dish is essential, allowing the surface layer of potatoes to turn a golden brown, while those underneath soften.
I find the large, plump-stalked King Oyster mushrooms perfect for this, but a thickly sliced field mushroom will fit the bill, too. Brown them lightly in oil before layering with the potatoes.
You need a crisp, green salad with which to mop the plate – ideally one containing watercress or other bitter leaf to contrast the creamy sauce of the gratin. The dressing should be on the sharp side, made with just a little oil and red wine vinegar seasoned with a generous dollop of Dijon mustard. Serves 4
potatoes 1 kg
smoked garlic 2 cloves, peeled
double cream 500ml
whole milk 200ml
porcini or king oyster mushrooms 180g
olive or vegetable oil 4 tbsp
tarragon leaves 3 tbsp
butter a little
Peel the potatoes, then slice them no thicker than a £1 coin. (If you have a mandolin slicer, then now is the time to use it.) Peel the smoked garlic.
Set the oven at 180C/gas mark 4. Warm the cream and milk and sliced garlic cloves in a small saucepan, then set it aside to infuse. Thinly slice the mushrooms (roughly the same thickness as the potatoes). Warm a little oil in a shallow pan over a moderate heat, then fry the mushrooms until golden on each side, lift out and place on kitchen paper. Chop the tarragon leaves.
Rub the inside of a large (25cm) baking dish with a little butter. Layer the potato slices into the dish, scattering with some of the tarragon leaves and mushrooms as you go. Pour the infused cream over the top, pushing the slices of garlic in among the potatoes.
Bake for a good hour in the preheated oven until the potatoes are totally soft and a skewer will slip through them effortlessly.
Mincemeat slices
The easiest of cakes to make and one that you could serve as a teatime treat or as dessert. Beat the eggs and sugar until light and soft before adding the melted butter. I pour the batter into the cake tin then, working quickly, spoon in dollops of mincemeat here and there among the cake mix. That way, you get juicy clusters of mincemeat throughout the sponge. Once baked and cooled, this cake will keep for a couple of days in an air-tight container. Serves 8
butter 250g
eggs 2
light, soft brown sugar 280g
self-raising flour 250g
mincemeat 350g
vanilla extract a few drops
To serve:
oranges 2 or clementines 4
double cream
Preheat the oven to 170C/gas mark 3. Line a 30×20 baking tin with baking parchment. Melt the butter in a small saucepan and leave to cool for a few minutes.
Break the eggs into a mixing bowl, add the sugar and whisk until the mixture is light and frothy. Mix in the melted butter, the vanilla extract and then the flour, stirring briefly, just until the ingredients are combined.
Pour the mixture (it may seem a little runny) into the lined tin, then drop in tablespoons of the mincemeat. You can be quite random about this.
Bake for 40-45 minutes until soft and puffy. The cake should be quite sticky in places. Cut away the peel from the oranges or clementines, removing any white pith as you slice. Cut the fruit into thin slices. Leave the cake to cool in its tin, then cut it into 8 equal pieces and serve them with the oranges and a jug of cream.
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