Italian Tomato and Potato Gratin
These vibrantly colourful potatoes have the advantage of adding an extra tomato dimension which almost acts as another vegetable, especially if you pile them on top of the potatoes more deeply than I have in the picture. If you tuck in bacon or cooked chicken and serve with a dressed green salad you quickly have a delicious and easy meal.
Ingredients
1 kg potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
227g tin of chopped tomatoes
2 tbsps. olive oil
2 tbsps. sweet chilli sauce (I particularly like Lingham's)
2 fat cloves of garlic
2 tbsps. freshly grated pecorino or parmesan
200g cherry tomatoes
Oven 200c or 180 fan
Method
Drop the thinly sliced potatoes into a saucepan of salted boiling water, bring it rapidly back to the boil and drain immediately after giving the potatoes a brief stir to separate the slices.
Butter a gratin or oven to table dish, tip the drained potatoes into it, season well with salt and pepper, sprinkle 2 tablespoons of hot water over the potatoes and cover tightly with kitchen foil. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes.
Whilst the potatoes are cooking, put the chopped tomatoes into a bowl.
Now stir in the 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the sweet chilli sauce, grate in the garlic, stir together and season with salt and pepper.
When the potatoes have had 30 minutes, take them out of the oven, remove the foil and spoon the chopped tomato mixture over them. Sprinkle over the grated pecorino ro parmesan and sit the cherry tomatoes on top.
Drizzle with a little olive oil and return to the oven (uncovered this time) for a further half an hour.
To make a meal of it, you could tuck cooked chicken and bacon in with the potatoes before spooning over the tomato mixture and topping with grated cheese and cherry tomatoes.
Helpful Hints
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