Here it is!

The Mazurian Potato Marjoram Pie smelt absolutely delicious as it was cooking.

I should say that I made a vegetarian version so no lardons or bacon.

Here's a couple of photos, one before the oven, one after.

The quantities given in the recipe serve 8. As you can see I made two pies i.e. 2 x 1lb loaf tins which turned out really well – she says – we'll see.

Now for the nitty-gritty stuff.

The recipe didn't actually say peel the potatoes before grating so I didn't. You'll notice that the recipe mentions “if the potatoes are watery, then you'll need to squeeze out some of the excess water”. How messy will it be to have a large bowl of grated potato that may or may not need wringing out!

ere's my tip. Use a clean tea towel to line a large mixing bowl so that it drapes over the sides of the bowl. As you grate your potato tip it into the tea towel until you've finished grating. Gather up the tea towel and lift gently from the bowl – you'll see that water has already drained through the tea towel. Twist the towel to release more water, then tip it away and wipe the bowl dry. Tip the grated potato from the towel into the bowl and continue.

When the pie came out of the oven it struck me immediately of a cross between Rosti and a Hash Brown. I'm a potato girl in whatever form so something new to try is fine by me – can't wait for supper time.

Here it is, the pie ready to serve.

Can't say I'm thrilled with the result. The potato filling is grey and unappetising and whilst the taste isn't bad it's not as good as I'd hoped. For me a recipe should be as complete as it can – if you want someone to invest their hard earned dosh then there should be as much information as possible to make life easy for the cook.

Back to the drawing board ...

P.s. On the plus side, as someone who has both English and American recipes, this book is good - it “speaks” both languages i.e. it gives you varieties of potatoes available i.e. Maris Piper and Yukon Gold and talks about double cream and heavy.