Potato Bake

Ingredients

• 250g bacon (with rind attached)

• 2 brown onions (white or red) sliced thinly

• 4 to 5 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped roughly

• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme

• 1 stem fresh rosemary, picked

• 2 bay leaves

• 100g butter

• 500ml stock (chicken, vegetable, or whatever you have)

• 4 large nicola potatoes (or any waxy potato), skin on (approx 1kg)

• Pinch salt

• Pinch black pepper

Method

Start with the bacon

1. Remove the rind from the bacon, keeping some fat attached.

2. Add the rind to a pan to render down — this gives you smoky, sweet bacon oil.

3. Slice the bacon nice and fine and add it to the pan to cook until sizzling.

Prepare and cook the onions

1. Slice the tops and bottoms off the onions, then remove the core section so the slices fall apart easily.

2. Slice thinly and add to the pan.

3. Stir through the bacon fat and cook until soft and lightly caramelized.

4. Season with a little salt and pepper (remember—the bacon adds salt).

 Add garlic and herbs

1. Smash or slice the garlic (chunks are great) and add to the pan.

2. Add fresh thyme, rosemary, and bay leaves.

3. Cook until fragrant and coated in the bacon-onion mix.

 Add butter

1. Add a generous knob of butter and let it melt through.

2. Cook gently until everything is soft, golden, and aromatic.
   At this point you have a flavour base good enough to eat on toast — but now it gets even better.

 Prepare the potatoes

1. Use Nicola potatoes if available — they’re yellow, waxy, and hold together beautifully.
   If using other potatoes, just wash them very well, especially if leaving the skin on.

2. Slice potatoes roughly ¼ cm thick.

3. Thicker if knife skills are limited.

4. Thinner if you're confident.

5. Keep the slices even so they cook uniformly.

Build the dish

1. Pour all of the bacon, onion, herbs, and cooking juices into the base of a skillet or baking dish.

2. Any extra little bits (“scraps”) go in too — nothing is wasted.

3. Arrange the potato slices over the top, spreading them out so they layer naturally and look beautiful.

 Add stock and season

1. Pour stock over the potatoes until it reaches two-thirds of the way up.
   This provides moisture to steam and soften the potatoes as they bake.

2. Add a little salt and pepper over the top.

3. Dot the surface with small knobs of butter — these melt through the potatoes, making them golden, crisp, and rich.

 Bake

1. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for about 30 minutes to 45 minutes, or until the potatoes are golden brown and cooked

2. The stock will reduce and concentrate, the butter will crisp the top, and the potatoes will turn golden brown.