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Cook this: Bacon-y garlic-y potato-y from Poppy Cooks

'It's basically three of my favourite things: Bacon, garlic, and potatoes,' says Poppy O'Toole

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Our cookbook of the week is Poppy Cooks by Poppy O’Toole. Over the next three days, we’ll feature more recipes from the book and an interview with the author.

To try another recipe from the book, check out: Apples ‘n’ pears pork; and cheese and onion pie.

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Potatoes “are the holy grail of tubers,” says Michelin-trained chef and TikTok sensation Poppy O’Toole, who goes by the handle @poppycooks.

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O’Toole has inspired millions of TikTokers with her 15-hour potato — at time of writing, #15hourpotato has 53 million views. But her layered, compressed and deep-fried gem is but one of her many potato creations.

The following “absolute joy” of a dish featuring spuds, bacon, garlic and cheese is case in point.

“It’s like a mac ‘n’ cheese, but it’s actually layers of potato and bacon and garlic. You know, the name’s very original. It didn’t take me long to think up bacon-y garlic-y potato-y,” says O’Toole, laughing.

Each chapter in her debut book, Poppy Cooks, begins with a core recipe — such as tomato sauce, shortcrust pastry or tempura batter — which the remaining recipes build on. Here, cheese sauce is the core, which O’Toole layers in with the rest of the ingredients.

The result is a comforting, warming dish that will help stave off winter’s chill.

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“It’s basically three of my favourite things: Bacon, garlic and potatoes. You can do that in any way you want and it will be delicious. I just added a cheese sauce over it and it was lovely,” says O’Toole.

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“It’s what you need in the cold. I mean, you could probably have it in summer at a barbecue, maybe. But you wouldn’t want too much of it,” she adds with a laugh.

Poppy Cooks: The Food You Need
Poppy Cooks is Michelin-trained chef and TikTok sensation Poppy O’Toole’s first cookbook. Photo by Appetite by Random House

BACON-Y GARLIC-Y POTATO-Y

The core:
1 recipe quantity of Cheese Sauce (recipe follows)

For the gratin:
4 large potatoes, peeled and sliced into 5 mm-thick (1/4 inch) rounds
1 tsp salt, plus extra to season
200 g (7 oz) smoked bacon lardons
3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
2 rosemary sprigs, leaves picked and roughly chopped
100 g (3 1/2 oz) cheddar, grated
Black pepper

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan/400°F/Gas 6).

Step 2

Tip the spuds into a large saucepan and just cover with water. Add the salt and place over a high heat. Bring to the boil, then cook for about 7 minutes, until tender.

Step 3

Drain the potatoes in a colander, then suspend the colander in the potato pan and cover with a clean tea towel for about 5 minutes, until the potatoes have steamed off and dried out a bit.

Step 4

While the spuds are boiling, add the lardons to a cold frying pan and place over a medium heat. Fry for about 6 minutes, until cooked through and golden. Remove the lardons from the pan and set aside on a plate lined with kitchen paper.

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Step 5

Tip one third of the spuds into a medium ovenproof dish, spreading them out in an even layer. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle over one third each of the garlic, rosemary, lardons and cheese. Top with a good ladleful of cheese sauce (if it’s been chilling in the fridge, you may need to spread it out a bit) and repeat twice more (potato, garlic etc, cheese, sauce), until the dish is full and you’ve finished with a final sprinkling of cheese. Bake for 30 minutes, until golden and a bit crispy on top. Dig in!

Serves: 4

CHEESE SAUCE

Cheese sauce from Poppy Cooks
Cheese sauce from Poppy Cooks. Photo by Louise Hagger

500 mL (2 cups) whole milk
50 g (2 oz) butter
70 g (2 1/2 oz) all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
200 g (7 oz) your choice of cheese, grated (I’d go for cheddar and double Gloucester, but a traditional Mornay sauce usually just has gruyère in there)

Step 1

Pour the milk into a medium saucepan and place it over a medium heat for 7 minutes, until warmed through. Set aside.

Step 2

Place a second, smallish saucepan over a low–medium heat. Add the butter and allow it to melt. Then, using a spatula or wooden spoon, gradually beat in the flour, about a tablespoon at a time, until you have a thick paste. You don’t want the paste to start browning — if you’re worried just take the pan off the heat to slow things down a little as you add.

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Step 3

Once all the flour is in, cook, stirring, until you have a dough-like consistency and the paste is coming away from the sides of the pan.

Step 4

Little by little, add the warmed milk, making sure you allow the first addition to fully incorporate into the paste before adding more. Keep mixing to avoid lumps — switch to a whisk if you need to.

Step 5

Once all the milk is in and you have a smooth, thick sauce, season with the salt and nutmeg.

Step 6

Now, simply add your cheese and stir to melt in and combine for the perfect cheesy sauce! If you’re not using the sauce straight away, transfer it to an airtight container (leave it to cool before you put the lid on).

Serves: 4–6 (depending on how you use it)

Recipe and image excerpted from Poppy Cooks by Poppy O’Toole. Copyright © 2021 Poppy O’Toole. Photography © 2021 Louise Hagger. Published by Appetite by Random House, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.

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