Poppycooks' Bacon-y Garlic-y Potato-y

Given TikTok megastar Poppy O'Toole (aka @poppycooks) passion for potatoes I really had to pick a potato recipe from her fab new cookbook Poppy Cooks so here is the recipe she calls Bacon-y Garlic-y Potato-y - which really does what it says on the tin.

Bacon-y Garlic-y Potato-y

Okay. This is my official statement on achieving the perfect potato dish: bacon, garlic and potato are the ménage à trois that is out here changing lives. It’s the modern-day throuple that’s right every time. Unless you’re veggie, that is – in which case, this dish is still a stand-out with just the garlic.

Serves 4

The core

1 recipe quantity of Cheese Sauce (see below)

For the gratin

4 large potatoes, peeled, and sliced into 5mm-thick (2 inch) rounds

1 tsp salt, plus extra to season

200g/7oz smoked bacon lardons

3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

2 rosemary sprigs, leaves picked and roughly chopped

100g/3.oz cheddar, grated

black pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/400°F/Gas 6.

2. Tip the spuds into a large saucepan and just cover with water. Add the salt and place over a high heat. Bring to the boil, then cook for about 7 minutes, until tender.

3. Drain the potatoes in a colander, then suspend the colander in the potato pan and cover with a clean tea towel for about 5 minutes, until the potatoes have steamed off and dried out a bit.

4. While the spuds are boiling, add the lardons to a cold frying pan and place over a medium heat. Fry for about 6 minutes, until cooked through and golden. Remove the lardons from the pan and set aside on a plate lined with kitchen paper.

5. Tip one third of the spuds into a medium ovenproof dish, spreading them out in an even layer. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle over one third each of the garlic, rosemary, lardons and cheese. Top with a good ladleful of cheese sauce (if it’s been chilling in the fridge, you may need to spread it out a bit) and repeat twice more (potato, garlic etc, cheese, sauce), until the dish is full and you’ve finished with a final sprinkling of cheese. Bake for 30 minutes, until golden and a bit crispy on top. Dig in!

Cheese Sauce

It ends here. No more packet cheese sauces. It is literally so easy to make your own (it’s just the béchamel with cheese in it) and I promise you’ll be able to tell the difference. Forget the powdery texture and the 10,000 unknown ingredients that you just ignore on the packet. You know everything going into this baby, and it’s all good stuff. Good stuff = good sauce.

Serves 4-6 (depending on how you use it)

500ml/2 cups whole milk

50g/2oz butter

70g/2.oz plain flour

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

200g/7oz your choice of cheese, grated (I’d go for cheddar and double Gloucester, but a traditional mornay sauce usually just has gruyère in there)

1. Pour the milk into a medium saucepan and place it over a medium heat for 7 minutes, until warmed through. Set aside.

2. Place a second, smallish saucepan over a low–medium heat. Add the butter and allow it to melt. Then, using a spatula or wooden spoon, gradually beat in the flour, about a tablespoon at a time, until you have a thick paste. You don’t want the paste to start browning – if you’re worried just take the pan off the heat to slow things down a little as you add.

3. Once all the flour is in, cook, stirring, until you have a dough-like consistency and the paste is coming away from the sides of the pan.

4. Little by little, add the warmed milk, making sure you allow the first addition to fully incorporate into the paste before adding more. Keep mixing to avoid lumps – switch to a whisk if you need to.

5. Once all the milk is in and you have a smooth, thick sauce, season with the salt and nutmeg.

6. Now, simply add your cheese and stir to melt in and combine for the perfect cheesy sauce! If you’re not using the sauce straight away, transfer it to an airtight container (leave it to cool before you put the lid on). You can store it for 3 days in the fridge and 3 months in the freezer.

What to drink: I'm not sure how much of a wine dish this is but a Chablis or lightly oaked chardonnay would work pretty well. Or a Belgian-style blonde ale like Leffe.

From Poppy Cooks by Poppy O'Toole published by Bloomsbury at £20.

Squash Baked with Beer, Cheese, Cream and Pretzels

I love this recipe from Claire Thomson's brilliant new book Home Cookery Year which I'm tempted to say is the only cookery book you'll ever need although if you're anything like me it's highly unlikely you're going to give the other however many dozen books you've got away.

Claire writes: Squash (and pumpkins) are the prize jewel of autumn, practically toppling supermarket and greengrocer fruit and veg stands.

Always choose the variety (whether squash or pumpkin) that are superior in taste and provenance. Avoid the juggernauts set aside for Halloween, as these are produced specifically for sculpting and are usually pretty tasteless. Look for sensibly sized, ripe, firm varieties of squash: medium-size squash, like the blue-grey skinned Crown Prince, or the dark green Kabocha; or any of the smaller varieties, such as sweet Uchiki Kuri or Acorn.

Lopping the top off and pouring in beer, three types of cheese (some hard, some soft) and also cream to bake like a fondue makes this a hugely impressive centrepiece, fitting of a feast.

Serves 6

1 x 1.5–2kg (3lb 5oz–4lb 8oz) squash (such as Crown Prince), or use 2 smaller squash (such as acorn)

100g (3½oz) aged gruyère cheese, grated (shredded)

100g (3½oz) emmental cheese, grated (shredded)

100g (3½oz) reblochon cheese, finely chopped (or use taleggio, fontina, raclette or camembert)

1–2 cloves of garlic, very finely chopped

2 tsp plain (all-purpose) flour (optional, to stabilize the cheese)

150g (5½oz) pretzels, bashed into large crumbs

100ml (3½fl oz) ale or beer (such as amber ales, Belgian beers, not too hoppy)

100ml (3½fl oz) double (heavy) cream

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F/Gas Mark 4.

Cut the top off the squash to make a lid, then hollow out the seeds. Season the inside cavity with salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper and place on a baking tray. Replace the lid loosely and bake the medium-size squash for about 1–1½ hours or small squash for 30–45 minutes, until tender when skewered.

Meanwhile, mix the cheeses together in a bowl and combine with the garlic, and the flour (if using).

Increase the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/400°F/Gas Mark 6. Remove the squash from the oven and put to one side, leaving it (or them) in the baking tray and removing the lid(s). Scrape any cooked flesh off the lid(s) and place it in the squash cavity along with a few of the pretzel pieces.

A little at a time, add in the cheese mixture, beer, pretzels and cream (a little of one, then another, then the next, and so on – and repeat), finishing with a good sprinkling of pretzel pieces and cheese. Put the lid(s) back on the squash. Carefully put the squash back into the hot oven on the tray and bake for 20–30 minutes, or until the fondue is melted and bubbling within.

What to drink: Claire suggests - and I agree - the same sort of beer you use for the recipe "not too hoppy - an amber ale or Belgian beer would be ideal."

From HOME COOKERY YEAR: Four Seasons, Over 200 Recipes for All Possible Occasions by Claire Thomson (Quadrille, £30) Photography: Sam Folan

Warm lamb salad with a pea, mint & feta cheese dressing

A fabulously summery recipe from the very appealing Great British Farmhouse Cookbook - perfect for this time of year.

Unusually it's sponsored by a company - the enterprising Yeo Valley dairy in Somerset - but you don't find their branding all over the recipes which have been put together by Sarah Mayor, the Cordon-Bleu trained daughter of the company's founders Roger and Mary Mead and a farmer's wife herself.

Sarah writes: "We’re not normally huge fans of frozen veg, but with peas we make an exception. They’re normally frozen within minutes of being picked, so they’re actually far tastier than fresh peas that have been hanging around in the fridge for a while."

SERVES 6

1 x 2.5kg leg of lamb, butterflied

2 little gem lettuces, broken into leaves, washed and dried

1/4 cucumber, halved and thinly sliced

salt and freshly ground black pepper

FOR THE MARINADE:

6 tbsp olive oil

the leaves from 2 rosemary sprigs, finely chopped

the leaves from 2 large thyme sprigs, roughly chopped

3 garlic cloves, crushed

finely grated zest and juice of 1 small lemon

FOR THE PEA, MINT AND FETA CHEESE DRESSING:

3 small shallots, very thinly sliced

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1/4 tsp caster sugar

250g frozen peas

8 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

the leaves from a 20g bunch fresh mint, chopped, plus extra

whole leaves for garnish

200g feta cheese, crumbled

FOR THE GARLIC AND MINT YOGURT:

250g wholemilk natural yogurt

1 garlic clove, crushed

2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

2 tbsp finely chopped fresh mint

1. Mix the marinade ingredients together in a large shallow dish with 1 teaspoon each of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add the lamb and turn it over in the mixture a few times until it is well covered. Cover and leave to marinate for at least 4–6 hours, ideally overnight.

2. To make the dressing, put the sliced shallots into a mixing bowl and stir in the vinegar and sugar. Set aside for at least 30 minutes so that the shallots can soften. Cover the peas with warm water and leave them to thaw, then drain well and set to one side. Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6.

3. Pop a ridged cast iron griddle over a high heat until smoking hot, then lower the heat to medium-low. Lift the lamb out of the marinade, shaking off the excess, then place it on the griddle and cook for 5-7 minutes on each side until well coloured*. Transfer to a roasting tin, spoon over any remaining marinade and roast for 20-25 minutes. Transfer the meat to a carving board, cover with foil and leave to rest for 5-10 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, tear the lettuce leaves into smaller pieces and scatter them over the base of a large serving platter along with the sliced cucumber. Mix the yogurt ingredients together and season to taste.

5. Add the oil to the shallots and swirl together. Stir in the peas and mint and season to taste.

6. Carve the lamb across into thin slices and pop it on top of the lettuce. Spoon over the pea and mint dressing, scatter over the feta and sprinkle with a few more small mint leaves. Eat straight away with the garlic and mint yogurt.

* the recipe doesn't state this but you could cook the lamb on a barbecue if you had a kettle-style barbecue

Suggested wine match: You could go several ways with this - a light red, a crisp white or a strong dry rosé. Red-wise that could be a Saumur Champigny or another Loire Cabernet Franc, a pinot noir or a juicy red like Mencia from the Bierzo region of northern Spain. Because of the yoghurt and spring vegetables a crisp white such as Sauvignon Blanc would work for those who prefer a white or a crisp dry rosé like Bandol from the South of France would also be delicious.

Extracted from Yeo Valley: The Great British Farmhouse Cookbook by Sarah Mayor (Quadrille £20). Photograph: Andrew Montgomery.

Buttermilk, Cheddar and Chive Bread

If you fancy baking something easy for the family this weekend try this delicious savoury bread from Claire Thomson's just-published National Trust Family Cookbook.

Claire writes: I enjoy the incremental hike of a bread dough made with yeast, but with alchemy on your side a loaf can easily get to the table in under an hour. The trio of bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and egg works wonders in this recipe. Mixed with the dry ingredients, they elevate the loaf as it bakes. Eat hot from the oven with salted butter or pack for a picnic or lunch.

Makes a 900g loaf

300g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

1½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp salt

80g Cheddar cheese, grated

Small bunch of chives, chopped

40g butter

225ml buttermilk

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp Dijon mustard

Preheat the oven to 200°C (190°C fan). Line a 900g loaf tin with greaseproof paper.

Put the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, cheese and chives in a large mixing bowl.

Melt the butter and add it to a jug with the buttermilk, egg and mustard. Give the mix a good whisk.

Swiftly add the wet mix to the dry ingredients and combine with a fork. Do not over-mix the dough – it should be a cohesive, sticky mass in well under a minute. It shouldn’t need any shaping so just fit it snugly into the prepared tin.

Dust the top of the loaf with a little flour and bake for 40–45 minutes until a skewer inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out. Serve warm or leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

From the National Trust Family Cookbook by Claire Thomson, published by National Trust Books. Photo © Jill Mead.