River Cottage

You could call this ‘cheesy-garlicky mashed potatoes’ but the French think aligot sounds better and so do I. Traditionally you would roast a whole bulb of garlic until soft, then squeeze out the soft puree and stir this into mashed spuds with a handful of grated Gruyere or your local semi-hard cheese. As wild garlic is abundant right now, I’ve decided to use that instead. It has a more pungent flavour than roasted garlic and also gives you attractive green flecks in the potato that forewarn you of the flavour before you even try a mouthful. Use good eggs with a farmyard flavour and the dish will make much more sense and be so much more interesting. If you’re not comforted by this lunch, then you don’t need comforting.