🔗 Share this article

Discover a rich gratin featuring potatoes, smoked trout, and cavolo nero, all coated in a seasoned cream sauce and crowned with gruyere. This dish is the perfect hearty potato centerpiece. For a savory variation on crispy spuds, cook crisp roast potatoes mixed in a lightly spiced butter emulsion featuring white wine.

Smoked Trout and Cavolo Nero Potato Gratin

Prep 15 min
Cook 2 hr 15 min
Serves 4

600ml double cream
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and bashed
2 branches rosemary sprigs
3 stalks thyme sprigs
Grated peel of 1 citrus
Grated nutmeg
Salt and pepper
25g butter
1 brown onion, peeled and sliced thin
200g Tuscan kale, stems removed, leaves cut
750g maris piper, peeled and cut into 3mm-thick slices
200g thinly sliced fish
3 stalks dill, minced
150g shredded gruyere cheese

Place the cream into a saucepan and add the garlic, rosemary, thyme, lemon zest, and a pinch of nutmeg. Spice well with salt and white pepper, then place over a low heat and heat for about 10 minutes, to infuse and thicken. Take out and discard the garlic and herbs.

Heat the butter in a pan on a medium heat, add the sliced onions and cook for several minutes, until softened. Include the cavolo nero, pepper well and saute until the cabbage wilts. Remove from the heat.

Place the cut potatoes in a row in the bottom of a large rectangular baking dish. Layer with a portion of the onions and cavolo nero, then pour over some of the cream mixture and salt. Layer with portions of smoked trout and a sprinkling of chopped dill, then add some cheese. Continue the steps until you fill the top of the baking dish, so that the last layer is potatoes topped with cream and cheese.

Bake at 170C for 105 minutes, or until soft all the way through.

Herb-Infused Roast Potatoes

Prep 15 min
Cook 1 hr 10 min, plus cooling
Serves 4

6 maris piper, peeled and halved
1 bouillon cube
Flaky salt and black pepper
4 tbsp cooking oil
200ml wine
½ shallot, peeled and finely diced
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
A pinch of nutmeg
2 whole cloves
Peel from 1 fresh lemon, cut into strips
50g salted butter
2 branches rosemary, leaves plucked and finely chopped
2 stalks thyme, leaves removed and finely chopped
3 branches fresh sage, leaves removed and chopped

Add the quartered potatoes in a pot of cold water, add the stock cube and season with salt. Boil , then simmer the potatoes for several minutes, until they easily pierced. Strain, then place a tea towel over the colander and let to dry for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to a hot oven.

Place the oil into a roasting pan and place it in the oven to get extremely hot. After the potatoes are dried, carefully add them to the hot oil and turn with a pair of tongs, so they're completely coated. Bake for 30 minutes, then toss them and put back in the oven for additional time.

Meanwhile, put a pot on a high heat, include the white wine, then mix in the shallots, garlic, nutmeg, cloves, and lemon zest, and cook until the liquid has halved. Whisk in the butter and herbs, then fish out and discard the cloves and lemon zest. Now, the potatoes are likely cooked.

Coat the potatoes in the wine reduction, season and serve hot.