Uncle Chris’ Scallop Potatoes with Salmon

I made scallop potatoes as a side to Mum’s roast chicken a few weeks ago.  The recipe I followed was really more like a dauphinoise potatoes, very rich, very yum.  My brother Chris said that scallop potatoes is one of his go-to dishes for the kids, but that he adds a tin of red salmon to beef it up.  What a great idea!  Made it, loved it.  Added some spinach too to try to balance out the richness.  Another good job for the trusty mandolin, otherwise you’ll go crazy slicing for ever and a day.  Definitely not too healthy with all that double cream, but oh so good.

Ingredients

1 kg baking potatoes, peeled and placed in a bowl of cold water to prevent them from browning (use floury potatoes such as Desiree)

3-4 cloves garlic

500ml double cream (you may need a bit extra)

salt and freshly ground black pepper

400g tin red salmon, drained, skin and bones removed and flaked

baby spinach

Method

Preheat the oven to 160C.

Slice the potatoes into thin slices, about 3mm thick.  Place the slices into a bowl as you cut them.  Crush the garlic into the same bowl.  Season the potatoes, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Pour the cream over the potatoes, add the salmon and the spinach and mix well again.  Place the potato slices into a gratin or other dish for cooking.  They should come to just below the top of the dish.  Press the potato down with the back of a spoon or your hands so it forms a solid layer. The cream should come to just below the top layer of potato (top up with more double cream if necessary).

Place the potatoes in the oven and bake for 1-1½ hours, or until the potatoes are completely tender. (If the cream looks like it’s splitting, your oven is too hot, so turn it down a bit.)

Serves 6