Curtis Stone's mashed potatoes with potato skin “crackling”

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Now, if I was a potato, I would be quite offended  if you called me a side dish because quite often  

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the potato is the star of the meal, and I'm going  to show you how to roast them, do a creamy bake,  

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a beautiful fancy hasselback potato, even a  potato salad can be absolutely fantastic with  

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great Aussie grown potatoes, you are in the right  place. The first thing you need to do is choose  

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the right potato for the right dish. So I'm going  to use this beautiful creme gold to make a creamy  

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baked potato. Now, the reason the creme gold is  the perfect potato for this dish is because it's  

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starchy, so it actually thickens up that cream  as it cooks down. It also absorbs flavour really  

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well. Peel and slice your potato into slices about  this thick. We start with thickened cream and some  

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milk, garlic and some fresh thyme. Season with  salt and pepper. Now, the great thing about this  

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potato dish is it takes a while to make, so you  can make it well in advance. Get yourself a nice  

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big, heavy baking dish just like this one. A quick  layer of potatoes on the bottom. No one's going  

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to be seeing these bottom layers, so you can make  'em as fancy as you want, or you can just throw it  

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down. Get yourself a handful of tasty cheese. So  you can either use a vintage cheddar or Gruyere,  

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pour over a thin layer of that cream mixture.  In between layers, kind of push down on those  

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potatoes like that. Now the reason, of course,  that you layer these potatoes with the cheese  

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and the cream is so that it cooks nice and  evenly, and when you cut through it later on,  

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that cheese will be beautifully dispersed all  the way through. As you get towards the top,  

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you can start making these just a little prettier.  Knowing that these first couple of layers are the  

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ones that people are going to see. 180 degrees  for about an hour, don't cover it just straight  

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in the oven. The potatoes are done. They've been  in for just on an hour. Look at that gorgeousness.  

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What could you serve this with? Anything. You  could serve it with a piece of grilled fish. You  

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could serve it with some roast beef. That's the  great thing about potatoes. They make everything  

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more delicious. The best part is this is just one  incredible potato dish. I've got lots to show you.  

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My next potato of choice is the brush potato. Now  this is kind of a baked potato, the hasselback,  

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but it's much, much more beautiful and it's way  more tasty than just a simple baked potato. Here's  

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what you do. I want it to have a nice flat edge.  So pick the prettiest side and then just trim off  

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just a little bit. Cut through the potato, but  not all the way through. So here's the trick.  

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You get yourself a couple of wooden spoons.  Put one on either side, and then you can just  

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cut straight on through about a centimetre apart  from each other. The last little slice, don't go  

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all the way to the bottom. Just cut into it just  a little. You can see how it's going to open up  

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as it cooks into the melted butter. We put some  crushed garlic and a little bit of fresh thyme.