Ingredients
Method
1.Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F. Brush the base and sides of a 2.25-litre (9-cup) square ovenproof dish with a brush dipped in some softened butter.
2.Peel and slice garlic. Heat the milk, cream and garlic in a small saucepan on the stove over a medium-high heat until the milk mixture is almost boiling. Remove from the heat.
3.Meanwhile, chop the butter into small cubes.
4.Peel the potatoes with a vegetable peeler and put them in a large bowl of cold water. Peel the kumara. If you have a V-slicer or mandoline, place the guard on one of the potatoes and slice thinly. Repeat with remaining potatoes and kumara. If you don’t have a V-slicer, use a sharp knife or vegetable peeler to slice the vegetables as thinly as possible.
5.Arrange slices of potato, kumara and butter alternately in the dish; season with salt and pepper. Discard garlic from milk mixture; pour the milk mixture over the vegetables in the dish. Place the dish on an oven tray and cover with greased foil.
6.Put the tray in the oven and bake for 1 hour. Remove the foil from the dish and bake for a further 30 minutes or until the top is golden and potato is tender. Take the tray out of the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes before serving.
You can peel the potatoes in advance and leave them in a bowl of cold water so they don’t go brown. Once they are sliced, assemble the dish immediately. Don’t stand the sliced potatoes in cold water or you will wash away their natural starch, which thickens the sauce.
Note