Luscious slow-cooker salmon and potato bake recipe

If you are bleary-eyed in the mornings and are looking for a dish which you can dump together in 3 minutes before work, then I'm afraid this isn't it. If however, you have about 10-15 minutes and don't mind slicing potatoes, this is a lovely dish to try and is a bit healthier than the recipe I adapted it from which involved double cream (not that it wouldn't be fabulous with double cream!)

My lovely husband made sure he took a photo before eating the meal I had left him!

Ingredients for 5-6:

1.5 KG/ 3 lbs waxy potatoes

250 g (8 oz) smoked-salmon trimmings

300 ml/ 1 and 1/3 cups reduced fat creme-fraiche

300ml/ 1 and 1/3 cups semi-skimmed milk

2 sprigs tarragon

grated zest of 1 lemon

salt and pepper

Directions:

Chop the potatoes into slices about the thickness of a pound coin or 1/4 inch. Lay a third into your slow-cooker. Lay over half the smoked salmon. Top with lemon zest and one of the sprigs of tarragon, chopped (just use the leaves). Repeat these two layers and finish with a layer of potato.

Mix the creme-fraiche and the milk in a large jug, add salt and freshly-ground pepper to taste and pour slowly over the potatoes, trying to soak the entire top layer.

Cook on High for 3-4 hours or low for about 8-10.

Verdict:

I only had this reheated later but both my husband who had it fresh and I both agreed it was excellent - elegant comfort food. I liked the mix of flavours which was subtle and balanced, despite using Asda value smoked salmon! I wish I'd had more tarragon - I love tarragon - but I would have killed the plant had I taken any more sprigs and I'm trying to train myself not to over-season everything! This is one dish where you may need to tweak the timings a little bit. My daughter had it at the time when I thought it should be ready but I had to microwave it to finish of her spuds. It won't be a great hardship playing with it though.