Dauphinoise Potatoes

For years I struggled with this recipe. First of all the recipes I used seemed over complicated, and more importantly, in these 'fat' conscious healthy days, quite fatty. Then because of the method involved, the potatoes took too long to cook, and the end result was never quite 'right'.

However, I came across a recipe on the Internet (hey, I never pretend any of my recipes are original), all credit to Skye Gyngell, from The Independent newspaper, for this gem.

Previously I had peeled and sliced the potatoes very thinly, I then buttered the dish, grated the cheese, poured the cream.............and found out after a few hours of the prescribed cooking time, the potato slices were still hard.

Here follows Skye's brilliantly easy recipe. I cooked this yesterday evening - to accompany some excellent Scottish Sirloin Steaks, a green salad, together with sliced fried mini portabello mushrooms and red onions, and some oven baked beer battered onion rings with black peppercorns.

The excellent thing about this potato dish is you can cook it earlier, and just re-heat in the oven.

So here goes.

Sorry, I have no photos apart from the one above from the internet, my eldest son was back for the weekend, and between the three of us, well, it kinda disappeared!

This recipe serves 6 so I cut down the quantities a wee bit, obviously as there were only 3 of us, and to be honest, I did not use double cream (is this called "heavy" cream in the States??) - I used single cream, still good though as a substitution.

12 Desiree Potatoes (I used Rooster potatoes, but any red skinned older potato will do, plus King Edwards are brilliant)
1 pint of full fat milk (because I watch my fat intake, I used semi-skimmed milk - it makes no difference to the end result)
sea salt and ground black pepper
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
1 and 1/2 teaspoons of fresh grated nutmeg (you cannot leave this magic ingredient out of this dish!)
400ml double cream (here I substituted single cream, no difference in the outcome of the recipe)
175g/6oz Gruyere cheese, grated (use nothing but Gruyere, however, if you really have to substitute, use Emmental) - it needs to be a real nutty cheese. Cheddar is way too fatty.
2oz Parmesan, grated.

I also added a finely chopped onion to the mix, but it is up to personal taste. My original recipe included onion, so I stuck with it.

Heat the oven to 200c/400F/Gas Mark 6. Peel and finely slice the potato into rounds about 3mm or eighth of an inch thick. Rinse slices of potato under cold water although don't let them soak in water for any length of time as this removes all the starch.

Now this is the magical and easy part of this recipe. Where I used to layer the uncooked potato in the baking dish and add the remaining ingredients, and then wait ages for the potato to cook in the oven, oh no...................

Place the potato slices in a saucepan and cover with the milk, top up with a little water if necessary and add some salt to taste (we are fairly salt less peeps, so I go easy on the salt - my maxim being you can always add it later). Place over a low heat and simmer gently for 20 mins or until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork.

(Now Jeannie disaster zone here, milk seems to boil quicker than water so keep an eye on the saucepan, mine boiled over while I went upstairs to check on the computer........;0(, and made a mess of the hob and I had some burnt potatoes stuck to the bottom of the pan - I am being nothing but honest, but you learn from mistakes.)

Also because I used Rooster potatoes (from Ireland and Scotland), they cook quickly, so if using a quick cook potato like this variety, reduce the cooking time. Important though wherever you source your potatoes, to choose a floury potato.

Drain and place potatoes in a bowl. Mine were too overcooked so I did not do this, I simply drained them and placed the resulting "Almost Jeannie Disaster but not quite, nearly mash" in a baking dish ready for the rest of the ingredients to be added and for baking in the oven. I used a Pyrex shallow, glass lasagna dish, sadly not one of the glamorous designs from the 60s and 70s, Joe's Mum, collects!

Add the garlic, nutmeg, cream and salt and pepper. Toss to mix well, (to be honest I just layered the rest of the ingredients on top as my potatoes were so soft!) Taste and adjust seasoning.

This dish should be substantial in flavour, not insipid, you are looking for a distinctly garlicky, nutmegy flavour.

Once the dish is layered up and the taste to your satisfaction, cover with the grated Gruyere cheese and Parmesan. Finish with a couple of turns of the pepper mill and place in the heated oven. Cook until golden and bubbling. Approximately 25 mins. Serve immediately.

The difference from my old recipes..............the cooking of the potato slices first (although slightly overcooked this time), plus no butter. My recipes for this used to be full of butter, greasing the dish, and adding butter in flecks on top of the potato.

Also, what has greatly helped me this weekend with my cooking, is my new and rather magical possession. In nearly 32 years of cooking for a family, I have never owned a food processor. In the recent closing down sales of our beloved Woolworths, I managed to pick up a Kenwood Food Processor FP120 Series for the measly sum of £18.

It chops, slices, squeezes lemons and oranges, mixes and grates.................and I think I may be in love!

Before 9 am this morning, I had made a wonderful vegetable soup, plus a Smoked Mackerel Pate, which has been devoured this lunchtime.

Somehow I think my two boys will be coming home even more regularly than usual at this rate.

The Easiest Fruit Loaf

This recipe has been in my family for years. I am no cake maker but since my youngest son adores this cake, I make it regularly. Now he is at University, he always asks me to make it so he can take a loaf back with him. Apparently, he can live on it happily for a week, breakfast, lunch and dinner!


I like the fact it uses Cups as measurement, I use a large "Costa" latte cup for all the measuring. (Please don't ask how we come to possess a "Costa" coffee cup!) But if you use the same size cup for all the ingredients you will be fine.


ok, here goes.

1 cup of sugar - I use the darker moscavado sugar to give the cake a darker, richer feel.
1 cup of mixed dried fruit (I use Tesco Luxury Dried Fruit - very good quality ingredients)
A handful of halved glace cherries (optional) but we love glace cherries!
1 cup of milk
4 oz Butter (do not substitute margarine - butter is the only fat for this cake)


Place the above ingredients in a large saucepan and bring slowly to the boil. Take off the heat and allow to cool.

Then stir in -

2 cups of self-raising flour
1 teaspoon of mixed spice
1 egg

Once all the ingredients are completely stirred in, pour the mixture into a 2lb loaf tin.

Cook at 150c for 75 - 90 mins. I have a fan oven, so this cake usually only takes 75 mins but with a conventional oven it may take longer. Just test with a skewer or knife to see if it comes out clean.

It is delicious eaten on its own, or spread with butter.

The reason not to use margarine, well, a while back I thought I would experiment and substitute the butter with margarine. A Jeannie Disaster ensued. Margarine has far too much water in it, and the boiled mixture looked most unpleasant. The finished product was nowhere near as delicious either. Butter does give a far more satisfactory result.

You can if you want, cut down on the amount of sugar - it is such an easy cake, you seem to be able to add and subtract ingredients until you get it how you like it.

N.B. Please don't biggify my photos, I don't have the digi cam today, so these are mobile phone pics - and not the best quality.

All good intentions...........

I must apologise for no new posts on here. No brilliant recipes, no tips, nothing. I seem to have been busy in other areas of my life, so apologies!

Hopefully before the week is out I will post some Jeannie gems. And hopefully, not disasters.

Please keep looking in, one day there may be a recipe or idea which takes your fancy!

Jeannie ;0D

My Store Cupboard SubstitutionTuna Salad

I am not pretending by the way, that any of these recipe suggestions are mine! They are just recipes I have adapted over the years, which have become firm family favourites.

Last evening, our appetite was jaded so we decided upon this for our tea. It is easy because it is mostly made from store cupboard ingredients - it is refreshing and healthy.

There are many versions of Tuna Salad of course, and over the years I have deviated from my original recipe.

For instance, I did not have any cold, cooked new potatoes, but I did have a ripe avocado, I used this instead. Actually, on searching my cupboard I did find a small tin of new potatoes, but played safe because to my horror the use by date was November 2007! Usually in the summer months I have plenty of left over fresh new potatoes.

The vegetarian/vegan version, obviously would have to be without the tuna, and of course the anchovies, also anchovies are an acquired taste. Perhaps a substituting a variety of different beans instead of tuna may be an idea. As I said earlier, this recipe is great for substituting and using what you have!

My ingredients

OK, put all the following into a large, shallow salad bowl.

A head of crisp lettuce, I used organic Little Gems but also sometimes use Romaine or Cos. It needs to be a crisp lettuce. Washed and torn into pieces.

Watercress is pleasant too.

Green pepper can go in, chopped, if you have some to hand.

A couple of sticks of chopped celery - basically any crisp green salad vegetable.

Half a Red Onion - sliced.

Tip in some Flageolet beans (I used canned, drained beans - easier and quicker than fresh ones) and again, always in my cupboard. I did not use the whole tin, again it all depends on your taste and how many people you are preparing for.

In the past I have also used other varieties of beans but obviously not baked beans in a sauce!! ;0D

Freshly cooked, and chilled broad beans are very pleasant in the summer months.

Two hard boiled eggs, quartered.

A handful of new potatoes, fresh or tinned. Last night I had neither, but made the substitution of the avocado, cubed and sprinkled with fresh lemon juice.

Black pepper.

A regular can of tuna - 185g, drained and roughly chopped. I used tuna in sunflower oil, but any kind of canned tuna would be fine.

A handful of capers.

Pitted Black olives if you have some in stock, yesterday I used some I found in the cupboard which were tinned, green and stuffed with garlic and surprisingly within their eat by date! However, black olives give the dish a pretty finish. Although long experience with my children eating this salad, is that I have nearly as many olives left over on the plates as I put in the salad!

Make a French dressing. For this recipe I usually beat two tablespoons of good olive oil, with one tablespoon of either wine/cider/balsamic vinegar, season well with the black pepper. The quantity here seems to be about right. Again, all down to personal taste.

Pour the dressing over the salad/tuna mixture, and mix well.

Finally, decorate the top of the dish with the hard boiled eggs.

Sometimes we eat this with some French bread, or rolls, but last night both of us fancied oatcakes and crackers (left over from our Christmas booty), and they went surprisingly well with this filling salad.

In the past I have substituted the olive oil in the dressing with groundnut oil, or any lighter oil, when I have wanted to cut down on the calorific values, this is such an adaptable recipe, you can do what you like with it. Apart from the baked beans scenario of course ;0D

We had friends over in the summer, and we were going to a Beer Festival in the local pub afterwards, so everyone wanted something light and summery, nothing too heavy. I made a huge bowl of tuna salad, and used some fresh prawns in it too; I have never seen a dish of food disappear to quickly! We ate it outside on the back patio and washed it down with some lovely chilled Rose wine.

ps You obviously just up the quantities for more people, my recipe here was just for the two of us. Think Marvin may have had a wee bit of the tuna though!

As always I would be interested in anyone's variations on a theme. ;0D

First post

Summer - Al Fresco eating.

Ok, I am not the world's best cook. However, 31 years of marriage, and three children, plus a few cats, hamster, goldfishes, and most importantly, the best dog in the whole wide world, and thankfully they have all survived my cooking.

I read constantly about people buying jars of bolognaise sauce from supermarkets, or ready made meals, full of crap additives, and marvel at their total ignorance on how easy it is too cook good recipes from scratch quickly.

A home made tomato sauce, recipe to follow shortly, is so easy to make. And I am sure if you have been tempted to click on this blog, you do not need me to tell you how to make a tomato sauce! However, I would be interested in reading your recipes.

A home made carbonara sauce to be smothered over some freshly cooked pasta, takes no time at all. The last ready meal my son and I ate, a few years back, was Carbonara, and it was utterly disgusting.

Apparently here in the UK, we are the heaviest users of Ready Meals, which are not only expensive but unhealthy. There are several cookery blogs I enjoy reading, particularly, Joe's Mums, This is a very tasty cookery blog. My aim with my cookery blog is to share my mistakes, which are legendary...........my successes, and some economical dishes which may help us all in these horrible credit crunch times.

If you, like us, do not have much ready cash, the skill to whip up a delicious and tasty omelette is invaluable. Or a homemade soup, much nicer than the tinned variety. Also to be honest it takes a wee bit longer than opening a tin, but you have so much more pleasant ingredients and taste, vitamins and the whole thing about "making it yourself".

This is not going to be a ground breaking cookery blog, just sharing some of my cooking experiences, both good, bad and the frankly ugly. Some tasty recipes, and hints from past disasters, both dinner party (god, there are so many of those mistakes!!) and general eating.

Also, because Husband and I like our wine, some recommendations of particular wines we have enjoyed. And for Joe (you know who you are!) some good malts!

I hope you look in now and again, and Marvin barks, "her leftovers, however burned or frazzled, I always eat them up with relish".

Hopefully I will be able to show you more than the disaster food he quotes, much nicer stuff!

I will end with my favourite quote "A Day Without Wine, Is Like a Day Without Sunshine"..........

Jeannie xxxxx

ps apologies to all of you looking in who can most probably cook far better than me, just thought it would be interesting to share recipes, tips, and disasters, and I am always eager to learn new skills! No one can ever say I am big headed, this is just a sharing blog. Please contribute any improvements of which I am sure there will be many!