One of our things we always seem to have far too many of at this time of year is potatoes. Tanny and I don’t really eat them except with a roast dinner and we always get the best we can get for the money and it always seems to be 1 or 2 bags far too many. Using them to make something like this potato bake means that at some point we will definitely eat them rather than them chitting and running to seed before we get a chance to use them.

In fact we decided a while back that even though we grow alot of our veg there is no point in us growing potatoes because we just won’t go through them. I did once for a bit of a giggle just to see if I could grow the shop bought ones and they didn’t do great because they took up too much room and we needed the beds for other things. Maybe if we want a specific variety sometime we may look at it again but until that day comes it really isn’t worth it for us so we buy them.

We’re also a bit “frugal” that’s the polite term for tight with money lol. Apparently the difference is frugal means we are doing it for a purpose. Personally I see no difference in the two. Anywho … we look for the potatoes when they are on offer or marked down and buy them then we won’t purchase at full price as they are silly prices. Which kind of makes me feel like we really should have another look at growing our own again cos farmers deserve better than us. Supermarkets don’t but the farmers do.

Ok enough blathering let’s get into this. Potato Bake is basically precooked potatoes, tossed in a cream and soft cream cheese mix and whatever else you want to add to it, if anything, topped with cheese and baked. The sauce thickens up and it becomes a wonderful creamy mess with a golden top that just makes you feel good about life again.

What I did to make mine :-

I made mine 2 ways. The first one was with leftover Sausages cut into bite sized pieces, Onions, Mushrooms and some once frozen Peas that had been left to defrost and needed using up. I used 300ml/ 1/2 pint of Double/Heavy Cream, a small tub of Cream Cheese and half a tub of Quark which is similar to Farmers Cheese or Ricotta.

The second was made with leftover Turkey and Ham cut into small pieces, Onions, Mushrooms, the rest of the defrosted Peas and the rest of the Cream, Quark and Cream Cheese.

Both made 2x 9×9 foil oven trays which was basically from one 2.5kg bag of salad potatoes which would’ve otherwise been left and forgotten in the cupboard or somewhere in the kitchen until they came at us like triffids with their chits so long they could take over the house !!!

Now they are in the freezer I will say this all I would do to reheat them is take them out the night before let it fully defrost top with some grated cheese if you have any. Pop in the oven at 180C/350F /Gas Mark 5 until they were golden brown and bubbly.

This makes a great side dish which is what we are doing with one of them tonight and serving it with Chicken Schnitzel and some kind of green veg… probably green beans cos Tanny will eat those. I will update this post with a pic when I can.

Just in case you’ve not been here before I write leftovers blogs very differently to a normal recipe. Leftover recipes are not about having exact measurements or even ingredients. They’re about using what you have and making do with that. So you may not have sausages, use bacon. You may be vegan, use vegan dairy alternatives. We actually prefer it that way. Use what you have and don’t expect it to be perfect. Just tasty.

Leftover recipes are written to help you gain confidence in using what you have to make something different so no one gets food fatigue because that’s when things get thrown away or shoved to the back of the fridge because you just can’t face it anymore and then thrown out because it’s growing it’s own eco culture and started a war with the butter and a jar of pickles !!!

I hope this helps you guys let me know in the comments below.