You only have to mention potatoes and cream and you have my attention. Add a buttery breadcrumb topping and its on like Donkey Kong.

An American friend of a friend from the Midwest told me about this dish. His heritage is Scandinavian and apparently no Christmas eve is complete without this.

I used Nigella Lawson’s recipe, and she recommended using proper Swedish pickled sprats, (my friend told me they used anchovies, so I’m going with him). The dish shouldn’t be especially fishy, the anchovies are more to add a salty umami savoury flavour (some people add the extra oil in the tin, but I wasn’t sure if this would be too much and I’m glad I left it out). If you are vegetarian or hate fish you could replace the anchovies with some grated parmasan cheese which would also be yummy.

Ingredients

1.2 Kg Potatoes (cut into very thin French fry like sticks)

2 large Onions (cut in half and sliced into half moons)

50 Grams Butter (plus extra for greasing your oven dish)

300 ml milk

300 ml cream

2-3 Handfuls of breadcrumbs

1/2 Small Tin of anchovies (finely chopped)

Black pepper

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (Celsius)
• Add half the butter to a pan a fry the onions for 10-15 minutes over a low to medium heat. They should be soft but not have browned.
• Grease an oven proof dish, and line with one third of the chopped potatoes. Sprinkle half the onions and anchovies over the top, add a couple grinds of black pepper
• Top with another third of the potato chips, and sprinkle the remaining onions and anchovies, and a couple grinds of black pepper again. Top with the remaining potatoes
• Stir the milk and cream together and pour over evenly over the potato mix
• Sprinkle the dish evenly with breadcrumbs and dot with the remaining butter
• Bake for around 1 hour (test with a fork to check that the potato are fully cooked) before removing from the oven.