An excellent accompaniment to a roast. A useful characteristic of this recipe when entertaining is that you can cook the potatoes in advance, and then just put them in the oven for 10-15 minutes while the meat is resting.
1 kg waxy potatoes (e.g. charlotte)
200 ml single cream
400 ml full-cream milk
bay leaf
fresh thyme
salt and pepper
Peel the potatoes and cut into 1 cm-thick slices. Put them in a heavy pan with the milk, the thyme, and the bayleaf. Season with salt and pepper, cover, and simmer for 20-25 minutes — check towards the end of this time, to make sure they are not sticking or over-cooking. Remove the potatoes from the milk using a slotted spoon, and spread them in a buttered gratin dish in a single layer. Add the cream to the milk in the pan and boil up to reduce the volume by half. Pour this over the potatoes and set aside. Add salt and pepper. Just before the meat is ready, put the dish in the oven (200 C) and heat for 10-15 minutes until the potatoes have browned slightly.