Food & Wine
Mashed potato bake
When you can’t decide if you’d like mashed potato or your favourite baked potato – the one with oodles of cheese, sour cream and bacon – this is the answer. Serve this with sausages and it’s a real winner.
Ingredients:
- 90 g unsalted butter, chopped, plus extra to grease the casserole dish
- 12 medium potatoes, about 2 kg, peeled and cut into 3 cm cubes
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled and left whole
- 1 teaspoon salt for the cooking water
- 200 g rindless bacon rashers, chopped into 1.5 cm pieces
- 6 spring onions, white and green parts sliced, root end discarded
- 375 g sour cream
- 375 g grated cheddar cheese
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 190°C and grease a large casserole dish, about 35 x 25 x 5 cm, or use 2 smaller casserole dishes if preferred.
- Put the potatoes in a large saucepan with the garlic cloves and the salt and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil over medium–high heat and boil until very tender, about 15 minutes, testing with the point of a sharp knife. Drain the potatoes and garlic, reserving 250 ml of the cooking water, and return them to the saucepan over low heat for 2 minutes to ensure any excess water has evaporated.
- Meanwhile, melt 30 g of the butter in a medium frying pan over medium heat and cook the bacon and spring onions until the bacon is starting to crisp and the spring onions are soft, about 8–10 minutes.
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the remaining 60 g of butter and whisk in the sour cream until steaming but not boiling. Add two-thirds of the cheese and stir until melted.
- Mash the potatoes and garlic together until very smooth. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the sour cream mixture, the sea salt and pepper and beat until smooth. Stir in 60 ml of the cooking water, using more if needed, and beat until creamy.
- Stir the bacon and spring onions into the potatoes. Taste and add more sea salt and pepper if needed. Transfer the potatoes to the prepared casserole dish with a light hand, keeping the top rough to maximise the crunchy bits. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and bake until the top is golden, about 30 minutes.
Tip: use floury (starchy or roasting) potatoes.
This is an edited extract from The Potato Cookbook by Dale Whybrow published by Hardie Grant Books RRP $24.99 and is available in stores nationally. Image credit: Ben Cole.
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