The best way …

... to illustrate assembly is with a photo guide :

thinly sliced cooked jackets – baked at your

convenience, then cooled – peeled and sliced at

your convenience too

here's the dish – greased generously with unsalted

butter and then the roasted garlic, dotted around

my dish is cast iron and measures 24cms/9½” x 17cms/6½”

x 5cms/2” deep

Pre-heat the oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6 when you are ready to bake.

you'll get two layers of potato, divide in half, place

the first layer in the bottom of the dish, add a sprinkle

of celery salt and black pepper then spread half the

quantity of Alfredo sauce – repeat!

… the final fotos and the advantages

Let's get a move on!

Weekend suppers should be special but not involve hours of prep and stress. Everyone has a favourite “comfort” ingredient and mine has to be potatoes. Probably my favourite indulgent potato dish is Gratin Dauphinoise - the only trouble is it's a lot of work and takes a long time to cook.

Here's my solution – cheat!

Dauphinoise – the cheats way

3 large jacket potatoes, baked, cooled then

peeled and sliced thinly – as a guide 500g

I used Maris Piper potatoes, they become waxy in texture when baked and are easy to slice thinly and become sticky - easy to arrange.

a sprinkle of celery salt and black pepper

two roasted cloves of garlic

large knob of unsalted butter for greasing

400ml double cream

You'll need a heavy earthenware or cast iron

serving dish

Alfredo Sauce

double the quantities given in the original recipe

50g unsalted butter

400ml double cream

100g freshly grated Parmesan

freshly ground black pepper

Gently heat the butter and the cream together, stirring until the butter has melted, then add the Parmesan.

Slowly bring to a gentle boil, turn down the heat and simmer, stir continuously for a minute or so until you have a smooth, creamy sauce, season.

This sauce can be made ahead, cooled, boxed and fridged or you can freeze it.

You can adapt this to a plant based recipe using:

50g Flora Plant unsalted butter

400ml Elmlea 100% Plant Double Alternative

to cream

100g Parmesan alternative – for example

Violife Parmesan style

The simple things in life are the best!

To illustrate ...

A fishing expedition – the pastry and the photos

As always you have “lid” options – for me it has to be puff or flaky pastry – here's my usual recipe if you want to make your own.

You will need a batch for each pie!

Fast flaky pastry

150g of unsalted butter – chilled in the freezer

220g plain flour

pinch of salt

8 tablespoons of ice cold water

Plan ahead - before you begin weigh out your butter, wrap it in foil and put it in the freezer – 30-40 minutes. Place the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. You'll need a cheese grater on stand-by. Remove the butter from the freezer and fold back the foil – it's easier to control when you grate the butter into a heap in the middle of the flour and salt. You can dip the butter into the flour to stop any sticking.

Using a round bladed knife mix the butter into the flour and salt. Sprinkle four tablespoons of water into the pastry and mix well. Add another four tablespoons and continue to mix. Finally use your hand to bring together – you're aiming for a clean bowl so no bits of pastry left in the bowl. Have a sheet of cling film ready – you can now use both hands to mould the pastry into whatever shape you require. Place on the cling film and wrap.

Rest the pastry in the fridge for 30 minutes before use or place the cling filmed pastry in a bag and freeze.

On a lightly floured surface roll out your pastry – dust your rolling pin too. Roll out as evenly as you can turning the pastry as it takes shape – always roll backwards and forwards and quarter turns so that it keeps to a circle. If you roll side to side you'll stretch the pastry and it will shrink when cooking!

Tip the filling into the pie dish. Egg wash the rim of the dish and then gently lift the pastry lid on top of the filling. The egg wash will glue the pastry in place and you can press the lid onto the filling gently. You can use a sharp knife to remove any excess pastry then, using a pastry fork edge the pie. Egg wash the pastry and add two cuts in the centre of the pastry to vent the pie.

Bake in a pre-heated oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6 for 40 minutes. I'd check after 20 minutes and turn the pie so as to give an even colour. It depends on your oven but I've found that even with new fan ovens the baking isn't always evenly browned.

There's always a plan B – cheat – buy puff pastry sheets – 320g x 2.

Here they are :

Yum!

Double yum!

Last but by no means least, here comes the pud!

The Rendang method … and cheating!

Pulling the Rendang together is easy peasy. Use a large frying pan and sauté the onion and the garlic in the rapeseed oil until softened – 3-4 minutes and then add the peas, potatoes and finally the curry sauce. Set aside until you're ready to serve.

This is not a challenging dish – it's what I call a “fly by the seat of your pants” recipe which you can make your own.

As you would expect from me there are always faster alternatives in other words, cheat.

You can buy a ready-made Butter Sauce in a jar, ready to add slow cooked chicken.

You can buy rendang paste and coconut milk, both easily available.

Here they are :

Next up another photo or two and extra ideas

Some hints and tips - your fridge, your freezer and your fruit bowl!

In a hurry? You don't have to roast fresh beetroot if you have no time. The organic vac packs you can buy are a great product and are not soaked in vinegar. The vac packs have good “best before” dates and so are a perfect fridge stand by.

I always have a small jar of creamed horseradish in my fridge too – you can make and box the smoked mackerel, horseradish and mayonnaise and fridge it, ready to use whenever you are.

You could buy the smoked mackerel when it's a good price and freeze it. It also has a reasonable fridge life so long as you keep it in its sealed pack.

Finally your fruit bowl – Autumn brings delicious apples. I know there are many different varieties to choose from - personally I love a Cox - it lends itself well with the smoked mackerel and the beetroot.

You don't have to go to the trouble of a stack if you've no time and want a quick healthy “salad” style supper. It takes minutes to flake the smoked mackerel and mix with the mayonnaise and the horseradish.

If you fancy treating yourself make the smoked mayonnaise for added zing! Check out Matt's mayonnaise for the stick blender recipe and method.

The moral of this missive is that there's no shopping required – all your ingredients are in your fridge, your freezer and your fruit bowl.

Have a look at the photos coming next for an alternative beetroot idea.