# My Pommes Anna **Chef:** Apurva **Cookbook:** Jamie Oliver's Christmas Cookbook **Potluck Date:** December 20, 2025 --- ## Recipe MY POMMES ANNA Jamie Oliver’s Christmas Cookbook BEST ROAST POTATOES CRISPY, FLUFFY, SQUASHED SPUDS WITH GOOSE FAT, GARLIC & SAGE Simple as roast potatoes are, there’s a handful of tiny, but important, details – picked up throughout my cooking career – that when combined give you this ultimate recipe, which I believe creates the perfect roast potato. What a luxury. SERVES 10 AS A SIDE2 HOURS 2.5kg medium Maris Piper potatoes 4 tablespoons goose fat (see here) or unsalted butter olive oil 1 bulb of garlic ½ a bunch of fresh sage (15g) Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4. Peel the potatoes, keeping them whole, and ideally all about the same size (8cm). Parboil them in a pan of boiling salted water for 15 minutes – this will ensure that the insides become really fluffy. Drain in a colander and leave to steam dry for 2 minutes – this will help the fat to stick to the potatoes. Give the colander a few light shakes to chuff up the edges of the potatoes, giving you maximum surface area for a crispy exterior as they roast. Place the goose fat or butter and 1 tablespoon of oil in your largest roasting tray. Tip in the potatoes, add a good pinch of sea salt and black pepper, then toss to coat, and spread out in one fairly snug, even layer but with small gaps between them. Squash the garlic bulb, then lightly crush each unpeeled clove and add to the tray – this gives you sweet, caramelized garlic and adds a gentle perfume to the potatoes. Roast for 1 hour, or until the potatoes are crisp and golden all over. Remove the tray from the oven. We’re nearly there, but we’ve got one last application of love and care, which is the game-changer. Gently half-squash each potato with a fish slice or masher so they kind of push into each other and fill the tray. Pick the sage leaves and – importantly – toss with a little oil (this will transmit the flavour and make them deliciously crisp). Sprinkle the sage over the potatoes and roast for a further 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden and amazing. Heaven – you could even serve these on their own in a restaurant, they’re so good. GET AHEAD Parboil your potatoes and dress them with the fat, garlic and seasoning a day in advance. Simply cover and keep in a cool place until you’re ready to roast.   Jamie Oliver’s Christmas Cookbook HASSELBACKS TURKEY DRIPPING, BLUE CHEESE & CRUSHED HAZELNUT CRUMB These sexy little beauties are super-fun to make, look amazing, loads of people will never have seen or enjoyed them before, and the flavour combination here just cooks into the potatoes so, so well. People. Will. Talk. About. These. SERVES 10 AS A SIDE1 HOUR 15 MINUTES 2.5kg Maris Piper potatoes (choose the smallest ones) ½ a bunch of fresh thyme (15g) 4 tablespoons turkey dripping or olive oil 50g stale bread 40g hazelnuts 100g blue cheese Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4. The fun and unique part of this side dish is that you need to slice multiple times through the potatoes, but – importantly – without going all the way through, giving you a kind of concertina-style potato. This looks beautiful but also makes them wonderfully absorbent of flavour and amplifies their crispiness. Try to choose small potatoes, give them a wash, and if you have any larger ones, cut them in half and use the flat side as a base. To make this process as simple as possible, place a potato on a board between the handles of two wooden spoons, so that when you slice down into the potato the spoons stop the blade from going all the way through. Carefully slice at just under ½cm intervals all the way along. Repeat with all the potatoes, placing them in a large roasting tray as you go. Pick half the thyme leaves into a pestle and mortar and pound with the turkey dripping or oil. Spoon over the potatoes, making sure the fat gets down into the cuts you’ve made, then season with sea salt and black pepper. Roast for 1 hour, or until the potatoes are golden and tender. Meanwhile, tear the bread into a baking dish, add the hazelnuts and toast in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove and allow to cool, then tip into a food processor, strip in most of the remaining thyme leaves, add a pinch of sea salt and black pepper and half the cheese, and pulse into coarse crumbs. When the hour is up, sprinkle the crumbs over the potatoes, then finely crumble a little bit of the remaining blue cheese on to each one. Dress the rest of the thyme sprigs with a tiny bit of oil and sprinkle randomly on top. Return to the oven for a final 10 minutes, or until the cheese starts to melt, then serve. GET AHEAD You can cook these in advance up to the point where they’re roasted and sprinkled with the toppings, then just finish them off when you’re ready, ensuring that they’re hot and crisp before serving.   Jamie Oliver’s Christmas Cookbook POTATO AL FORNO COMFORTING CREAMY FENNEL, ONIONS, GARLIC & PARMESAN This is one of my favourite side dishes and, frankly, it’s so good I sometimes just have it for lunch with a big fresh salad to provide a bit of contrast. It’s easy to put together, and always delivers big on flavour, whatever you serve it with. SERVES 8–10 AS A SIDE1 HOUR 50 MINUTES 1kg Maris Piper potatoes 2 onions 2 bulbs of fennel, with herby fronds attached 600ml whole milk 400ml double cream 6 anchovy fillets in oil 8 cloves of garlic ½ a bunch of fresh rosemary (15g) 6 fresh bay leaves 1 whole nutmeg, for grating 50g Parmesan cheese Peel the potatoes and onions and trim the fennel bulbs, reserving any herby fennel tops for later. Finely slice the potatoes, onions and fennel just under ½cm thick, with patient knife skills or, ideally, on a mandolin (use the guard!). Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4. Pour the milk and cream into a pan. Tear in the anchovies, crush in the unpeeled garlic through a garlic crusher, add the rosemary sprigs and bay leaves and finely grate in half the nutmeg. Bring to a light boil on a medium heat, then immediately turn the heat off and leave to infuse for a few minutes. Fish out and discard the herbs, finely grate and whisk in most of the Parmesan, then taste and season to perfection. In a 25cm x 30cm baking dish, layer up the slices of potato, onion and fennel. Pour over the cream mixture and finely grate over the remaining Parmesan. Cover with tin foil and bake for 30 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for another 45 minutes, or until tender and nicely golden. Remove from the oven, tear and scatter over any reserved fennel tops, and serve. MIX IT UP Feel free to swap out the fennel and hero other seasonal veg in this recipe, such as slices of celeriac or tender celery heart.   Jamie Oliver’s Christmas Cookbook CHAMP PIE LEEKS, WATERCRESS, CHEDDAR & SUPER-CRISPY POTATO SKINS Champ is a classic Irish potato dish. I’ve evolved that wonderful recipe here to utilize the potato skins, too. They get super-crisp and savoury, and once filled with the creamy smashed potatoes and baked are absolutely amazing. SERVES 10 AS A SIDE2 HOURS 15 MINUTES 10 large Maris Piper potatoes (250g each) 6 medium leeks 25g unsalted butter olive oil 2 fresh bay leaves 1 bunch of fresh thyme (30g) 200ml semi-skimmed milk 100g watercress 150g mature Cheddar cheese 1 whole nutmeg, for grating 3 large eggs 50g breadcrumbs Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4. Scrub the potatoes clean, then place them in a large roasting tray and prick each one a few times with a fork. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes, or until golden and crisp, but still fluffy in the middle. Leave until cool enough to handle, then halve, scoop the insides into a bowl and mash well, putting the skins aside for later. Meanwhile, wash, trim and finely slice the leeks. Place a large pan on a medium heat with the butter, 1 tablespoon of oil and the bay, then strip in half the thyme leaves. Stir for 1 minute, then add the leeks. Stir and cook for 5 minutes, or until just softened, then pour in the milk. Pick in the watercress, then --- *Downloaded from BCBCBath Cookbook Club* *https://bcbcbath.com*