Rainbow Gratin

It is cold and wet and I'm feeling lazy. I want a one-stop-shop type of meal that can cook in the oven while the Toddler sleeps and I sink into a huge hot bath with a book and a cup of tea. The answer is a potato gratin that has been jazzed up with some sweet potato and spinach as it takes almost no time to prepare (particularly if you skip the step of peeling the potatoes).

The recipe is adapted from Nigel Slater's in Tender Volume 1. I love the simplicity of using just cream and the lack of faffing about with a cheese sauce. This dish is one of the Toddler's favorites and she shows her appreciation by giving me a round of applause with her greasy hands.

The picture shows the gratin served with some beef leftover from the night before.

700 grams waxy clean waxy potatoes
300 grams peeled sweet potato
Handful of washed baby spinach
2 cloves garlic
Butter/Ghee for coating baking dish
600ml cream
Freshly cracked black pepper

Step 1: Slice the cloves of garlic in half and rub them around the inside of the baking dish. After this, grease the baking dish with the butter/ghee.

Step 2: Slice the potatoes into slices as thick as a $1 coin (Nigel says as thick as a pound). Feel free to peel them if you want but I prefer to leave them as is because most of the nutrients are under the skin. Slice the sweet potatoes a little thicker because sweet potato cooks more quickly than normal potatoes. Place a layer of potatoes and then a layer of sweet potato in the baking tray. Follow with the handful of spinach and then layer the remaining potato and sweet potato. Sprinkle pepper as you layer and pour over the cream at the end.

Step 3: Bake in an oven of 160 degrees for 1 and a half hours to 2 hours. The top should go brown and golden and the potato cooked through.

Notes:
* To make the adults only version (as Nigel intended) omit the sweet potato and spinach and add 300 grams potatoes.
* This won't freeze but you can pop any leftovers in the fridge and gently reheat (at 180 degrees for about 20 minutes) the next day.