Nigel Slater

He's a pretentiontious plonker but this looked good in the OFM.

Crushed potatoes with cream and garlic

I keep finding rather less-than-exciting 'new' potatoes in my shopping bag. This is a way to perk them up. For meat eaters this makes a rather sumptuous accompaniment for either slices of cold roast meat or maybe something from the grill - a pair of sweet little chops perhaps.

Serves 4 as a side dish

new potatoes - 500g
garlic - 3 juicy cloves
double cream - 250ml
thyme - about 8 sprigs

Scrub the new potatoes but do not peel them. Boil them in a pan of deep, lightly salted water for 15-20 minutes or so till tender. While the 'I keep finding rather less-than-exciting "new" potatoes in my shopping bag' potatoes are boiling, peel and lightly crush the garlic cloves. Pour the cream into a small saucepan, add the leaves from the sprigs of thyme, the garlic, a little salt and black pepper. Let the mixture simmer over a moderate heat until it has reduced by about a third.

Once the potatoes are drained, put them in a shallow dish and crush each one lightly with a fork - you want to break the skin and flatten the potato just enough that its flesh will soak up some of the hot cream. Pour the cream and thyme over the crushed potatoes and eat hot.