How delish is a really good potato bake? The combination of rich creaminess with starchy goodness makes it so homely and comforting. As a mum, I love it as a side dish because it’s something I know my kids will eat. But all the recipes I’ve found have been time consuming, labour intensive or both. I remember as a child having a Family Circle cook book with potato bake in it, and we had it so often mum knew the recipe by heart, and I can still remember the basic idea. 

I set out this week to throw together a basic side to go with some barbecue, using up a few last dodgy sprouting potatoes and some dairy products which needed finishing. By some small miracle I ended up with the hands down easiest cheesy, creamy potato bake I’ve had in a very long time. 

The best thing? Ten minute cook time in the microwave. That’s it. Not an hour in the oven, or making a roux and mixing through and STILL needing extra cook time. This is so simple, I’m pretty sure my kids will be sick of it in no timewith how often I’ll be making it. There’s definitely substitutions you can make if you don’t have everything in your fridge (Philly or creme frache could be used instead of sour cream, or you could split milk with lemon juice in place of cream) but at any one time these are ingredients I have in my fridge so it’s what I’ve used. 

Cheats Potato Bake

3 medium potatoes (about 600g)

1 small onion

4tbsp cream

40g butter

3tbsp sour cream

1/2 cup cheese (we used tasty)

Salt

Pepper

1. Slice potatoes into 0.5-1cm wide circles and finely slice onion. Layer into a 20cm round microwave safe dish a third at a time (potato, onion, salt and pepper x3)
2. Soften butter in microwave then add to sour cream. Mix until smooth then add cream
3. Pour evenly over the potato and onion layers, loosely cover with a lid and microwave eight minutes on high
4. Carefully remove and top with cheese then return to microwave a further two minutes
5. Remove and allow to rest a few minutes before serving

If you particularly like the browned cheese of an oven bake you can skin the second microwave step and put into the oven on 180’C for ten minutes.