Hot potatoes – a plan and the prep.

My “to do” list :

Boil the potatoes and cool, ready to slice when I'm not in a hurry. I made this my first job in the morning the day before the lunch. I softened the onion too. They had plenty of time to cool whilst I was doing other stuff. Later the same day I assembled the tartiflette and baked it for 45 minutes, cooled, covered and fridged it. It needs a further 15 minutes cooking time, uncovered, on the day. Big tick!

I mentioned too that I wouldn't be including the bacon in the recipe. I'll be serving bacon bits on the side – this way you cater for vegetarians too.

It matters not how much bacon you bake - you can use any leftover bits, as I did, for a Spanish omelette on another day. As a matter of principle in my kitchen I always make more than I think I need – why – because I'm automatically creating ingredients for lunches or suppers and half the work.

Back to the bits … line a baking sheet with rashers of bacon and bake on 180fan/200c/Gas 6 for 15 minutes, turn the bacon and repeat. Set aside to cool – it will be crispy, snap into tiny bits box and fridge. Another tick.

If there's one thing I love it's making the best use of my oven and saving myself time and stress into the bargain. You can bake your tart on the day and add your tartiflette too, you just need to set your timer for 25 minutes when the tart goes into the oven then add the tartiflette, uncovered for the remaining 15 minutes of tart cooking time. Don't worry that there's a slight difference in oven temperature, leave it at 180fan/200c/Gas 6 for the tart, they'll be perfectly crispy! The tartiflette shouldn't be served piping hot but warm to compliment the tart.

P.s. I'd be keeping my fingers crossed for leftovers – tartiflette is even better the following day warmed, creating even more crispy edges. Happy days.