We have a big bag of potatoes lurking in a cupboard. This always happens. I spot the potatoes at a cheap price, buy them and then we hide them in a cupboard and wonder what to do with them.

As we currently have eight Dutch Cream potato plants turning into triffids in our garden, it’s time to do some long overdue potato experimenting.

Potatoes Dauphinoise (or pommes dauphinoise, or pommes de terre à la dauphinoise or dauphinoise potatoes) is hardly experimental but I suspect that it’s the type of dish that most people eat at a restaurant rather than at home.

It’s NOT health food: this is sometimes food, not every day food. But because it survives reheating excellently, it’s ideal when you’re cooking a roast or short on oven space. You can 95% cook the potatoes in advance and return them to the empty oven to reheat while the meat is resting. This makes timing a roast a LOT easier than if you try to do roast potatoes. Of course, the left overs are also top notch!

While this is a very basic, store cupboard recipe, a word of advice. A mandoline is essential. Unless you have super sharp knives, the patience of a saint and some really mad cutting skills.

This recipe also scales very easily. You just need to adjust the cooking time – the potatoes are done with a knife slides in easily.