Creamy Leek and Potato Bake

INGREDIENTS:

- 1/2 a cauliflower

- 5 potatoes

- 1 large leek

- 4 cloves of garlic

- 70g butter

- 2tbs flour

- 300ml milk

- Ricotta

- cheese of your choice

- a pinch of grated nutmeg

- a pinch of thyme

- salt and pepper to taste

METHOD:

Using a pan, on low to medium heat and a good amount of olive oil, cook the onions and leeks until soft. Add the garlic and salt and pepper, cook for another 2 minutes then set aside.

To make the white sauce, melt the butter, in a saucepan with the thyme, nutmeg and a bit of pepper. Whisk in the flour to make a paste. Pour in the, milk and keep stirring over low- medium heat until it has thickened and bubble begin to appear.

Turn the heat off and add the grated cheese, leek mix and the ricotta.

If the sauce is too thick, add milk a little at a time until you reach a consistency that is pourable and not too thick.

Preheat the oven to 180C

Cut the potatoes into slices. Layer them into an oven dish.

Cover the potato with a bit of the sauce, then another layer of potato, and sauce until you have run out of potatoes.

Chop the cauliflower into very small pieces, almost crumbly in texture, then add it to the remaining white sauce.

Pour the rest of this sauce and cauliflower mix as the last layer. Sprinkle with some grated cheese if you like then bake for 40 minutes or until the top is golden and the potatoes cooked through.

If you want to speed the process up you can par-boil the potatoes before slicing them while you make the white sauce.

Enjoy!

Smiles, Vic

CHANGE IT UP!

- Add greens: there is very few dishes in this world that I think maybe you shouldn't add a hand-full of leaffey greens to; this is not one of them! spinach, kale, silverbeet, beetroot leaves or even green beans or peas! Whatever you have or are craving green I guarantee it will taste great in this dish.

- Potato: Use parsnips instead of potato or only cauliflower also would be great!

- Ricotta: You can use any cream you like, thickened, sour or even just more milk (and flour if you want to make it thicker), but I like the slight tang that the ricotta gives to the flavour.

- Herbs: Just like adding leafy greens, very few things also wouldn't benefit from having herbs. Sage, basil, parsley or rosemary would be my go tos in this case.

- Brazilian Flair: In Brazil, we have many baked dishes similar that often get corn, boiled eggs or even salted cod mixed through as well. The cod is a little complicated so I'll dedicate a whole recipe to it, but nothing is stopping you from trying the corn and sliced hard-boiled eggs a go in your potato bake!