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1
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.
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2
Peel the potatoes and cut them into slices, neither especially thin nor especially thick (approximately 1/2-inch) and put them into a large saucepan with the milk, cream, onion, minced garlic and salt.
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3
Bring to the boil and cook at a robust simmer or gentle boil (however you like to think of it) until verging on tender, but not dissolving into mush.
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4
The pan might be hell to clean afterward, but any excuse for long, lazy soaking rather than brisk pre-or postprandial scrubbing always appeals to me.
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5
And, for what it's worth, I find that when pans are really, dauntingly, stuck with cooked-on gunge, it's more effective to soak them in hot water and detergent (i.e., the stuff you put in the washing machine, though I haven't tried, and don't think I would, with tablets) rather than dish liquid.
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6
Use some of the butter to grease a large roasting pan (15 by 12-inches) and then pour the almost sludgy milk and potato mixture into it.
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7
Dot with remaining butter and cook in the oven for 15 minutes or until the potato is bubbly and browned on top.
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8
Remove, let stand for 10 to 20 minutes and then serve.
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9
This is not the most labor saving way of cooking potatoes, to be sure, but one of the most seductive.
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10
And it reheats well as an accompaniment to cold roast pork, or indeed anything in the days that follow.
