Stranger Foods

Lime and coconut potato gratin

Serves 6 | Prep 20 mins | Cook 1 hr 40 mins

This gratin was part of a Christmas feast that we created for the Guardian which also included a roasted Szechuan lamb shoulder, steamed aubergines and a cucumber salad. You can easily stick to this spirit, even if you lose the lamb, and serve the gratin as part of a Chinese-ish vegetable feast with our cucumber salad à la Xi’an Impression, steamed aubergines with charred chilli salsa and sweet and sour sprouts with chestnuts and grapes. Ideally, you want to cut the potatoes thinly using a mandolin or a food processor with the appropriate attachment. Don’t worry if you have neither, though – cutting them by hand is also fine; you might just need to cook them a little longer if they are thicker than 3mm. You can bake the gratin the day before and reheat it in a very hot oven just before serving if you want to get ahead. Top with the aromatics and zest just as you serve, and not before.

Source: FLAVOUR by Ottolenghi

Ingredients

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Imperial

x0.5

4 banana shallots, sliced 3 mm thick, on a mandolin or by hand
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp olive oil
1.4 kg Yukon Gold potatoes (or another baking potato that’s somewhere in between floury and waxy), skin on and sliced 3 mm thick, on a mandolin or by hand
100 g coconut cream, melted
3 limes, finely grate the zest to get 1.5 tsp, then juice to get 60 ml
200 ml vegetable or chicken stock
salt, flaked sea salt and black pepper

Crispy aromatics

150 ml olive oil
2 red chillies, finely sliced into rounds
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
5 g fresh ginger, peeled and julienned
4 spring onions, finely sliced at an angle

Instructions

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Preheat the oven to 180°C fan. Put the shallots, garlic, oil and ¼ teaspoon of salt into a 28cm ovenproof sauté pan on a medium heat. Fry for , stirring occasionally, until soft and deeply golden. Transfer to a large bowl and set the pan aside to be used again (no need to clean it).
Add the potatoes, coconut cream, lime juice, 2 teaspoons of salt and plenty of pepper to the bowl with the shallots and very gently mix everything together, taking care not to break the potato slices.
Add a quarter of the mixture to the sauté pan; any smaller or broken slices of potato are best used here, saving the larger, whole slices for the top. Spread out to create an even layer. Use the remaining three-quarters to create a spiral effect on top of this layer, so each slice is at an angle and overlapping the next. Pour over the stock, cover tightly with foil and bake for .
Meanwhile, make the crispy aromatics. Heat the oil in a medium pan on a medium heat, then gently fry the chillies, garlic and ginger for , stirring occasionally, until the garlic is a light golden-brown. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the aromatics to a plate. Add the spring onions to the oil and fry for , stirring to separate, until crisp. Add to the plate of garlic, spread everything out and sprinkle with some flaked sea salt. Remove the foil from the potatoes and drizzle 60ml of the aromatic oil (reserving any remaining oil for another use) evenly over the gratin, then return it to the oven uncovered and bake for another . Increase the heat to 200°C for the last , until the top is golden-brown and crispy.
Set aside to cool for , then top with the fried aromatics, the lime zest and a generous pinch of flaked sea salt.

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