Week 1 : Knife Skills – Peeling & Slicing Potatoes

Normally I use mandolin but since this week’s challenge is all about knives, I ditch the mandolin and testing my precision by using knife instead. (which then caused me an extra 45 mins!!!) If you decided to use mandolin, this recipe will require only 15 mins to prep and 60 mins baking time.

Utensils :

• Peeler & Chef Knife (or Mandolin)
• 9 cm diameter ramekin to bake – 4
• Brush to apply the butter
• Kitchen towels to dry out the potatoes

Ingredients :

• 500 gr potatoes (I like to use baby potatoes to match my tiny ramekins)
• Butter, melted
• 300 gr grated cheese (I like to use Kraft cheddar cheese)

Step by step :

1. Turn on the oven 180 degrees.
2. Peel the potatoes : Hold the potato using your left hand and press your right hand thumb against the back center of the potato. Slide the peeler toward the right hand thumb with a gliding motion. Repeat for each side of the potato. 
3. Cut potatoes very thinly (around 1mm) : hold potato with your knuckle against the chopping board and guide the slicing, start from one end to another – once done, lay potato slices on top of tissue papers (to absorb the water & starchy liquid)
4. Apply a thin layer of butter on to the ramekin
5. Line base of ramekin with 2 layers of potato slices, overlapping a bit (to cover the gaps), brush with butter in between the layer & on top of the last layer. Sprinkle grated cheese + salt + pepper (for a bit of flavour)
6. Repeat 5 times (with the potatoes as the last layer)                                                                                                                                                            
7. Bake potatoes for about 60 minutes or until potatoes are tender with golden top.

Important notes :

• Make sure to give a good overlay as during the baking those sliced potatoes shrinks – so if we only give a bit of overlay there will be a gap!
• Ensure the slice are very thin because that will help to glue the potatoes together
• This is great to be served together with grilled fish or steak – or just on it’s own (I like to dip with ketchup & sour cream in that case)

Bon Appetite! xx