Don't Sweat the Aubergine

them to the cream and potatoes, with sage as well.
    Some gratin dauphinois recipes include egg and/or cheese. I wouldn’t use egg, because I prefer, in this context, the consistency of thickened cream to that of custard; and achieving that custard is not straightforward – you’re more likely to find bits of scrambled egg among your potatoes. But I do use cheese – Gruyère or Cantal – occasionally, in a cream-only gratin. The problem here is the acidity of the cheese, which can inhibit the softening of the potatoes. Add grated cheese towards the end of cooking, either stirring it in or spreading it on the surface, to provide a browned crust.
    Sometimes I fry pancetta and garlic in a casserole, then add sliced Charlotte potatoes (900g) and a couple of sliced onions (for 4 people). I bake it in the oven (at gas mark 3/160°C again), giving it a stir every quarter of an hour to merge the onion and potato as the onion softens. The onion provides enough moisture to prevent the potatoes from sticking. The mixture emerges golden and melting. A richer version might include cream and/or cheese as well.
    Gratin Savoyard is cooked in stock. You mix sliced potatoes, garlic, Gruyère cheese, salt, pepper and nutmeg, layer them in a dish, pour over hot stock to cover, and bake, uncovered, in a gas mark 5/190°C oven (for 4: 900g of potatoes and 120g of Gruyère). Again, your best bet may be to add the cheese at the end; the potatoes will take longer to cook than they do in milk or cream anyway, and the liquid will not reduce so quickly. You want a browned surface and just enough liquid to moisten each portion. Sliced onions are an optional, inauthentic variation; thyme would be a nice addition.
    Potatoes boulangère is similar, but without the cheese.
    Potatoes Anna are layered with butter. Grease a gratin dish. Peel the potatoes. Cut them into rounds, arranging them in the dish; when you have a layer, cut slivers of butter and place them on top, and grind over salt and pepper. Build the layers of potato, butter and seasoning. Cover the dish loosely with foil, and bake at gas mark 4/180 C for 45 minutes. Uncover the dish, and bake for another 30 minutes, turning up the heat if the top layer is not browning.
Root vegetables: celeriac, parsnip, turnip, swede
    A celeriac is a pain to peel, and you can risk serious injury attempting to get a knife through a large swede. Try not to let these drawbacks put you off these underrated vegetables. Too often in winter we carry on buying out-of-season aubergines, courgettes and tomatoes, ignoring humbler, cheaper, tastier roots.
    All may be cut up, tossed in oil, and baked. They go well with spices including cumin and coriander. Young turnips may be cooked as you would carrots ( see here ), with a little stock or water and butter. Celeriac or parsnip, steamed apart until tender, make superb mash with an equal quantity of potato. Another delicious mash to go with roasts consists of equal quantities of turnip, swede and carrot; steam all three, taking care not to overcook the carrot; blitz in a food processor; and warm through with a little salt and nutmeg, as well as plenty of butter.
Spinach
    The greater the quantity of a vegetable, the more difficult it is to cook it efficiently. Unfortunately, you need a huge bagful of spinach just to feed four people.
    You could plunge it into a large vat of boiling water; some say that this is the best way, because it’s the quickest. You cook it for a minute or two, drain it, plunge it into cold water, drain again and squeeze out the excess liquid, then warm it through with butter and seasoning. As I’ve said elsewhere, I’m not a fan of this method, which loses nutrients and, I think, flavour.
    So: wash the spinach thoroughly; you may need to do it twice (wash the bagged supermarket spinach too). Shove the wet spinach into a pot, put on the lid, and put the pot on the hob above a maximum heat. After a minute or less the spinach will start to collapse; you can take off the lid and stir the leaves, getting them all into contact with the now boiling liquid they have shed. Continue to stir for another minute or two. The leaves won’t take long to wilt and become tender. Drain, and push down on the spinach in the colander with a wooden spoon to get rid of as much moisture as possible. Return the spinach to a pan with a generous portion of butter; add salt and pepper (nutmeg too, if you like), and stir to coat the leaves and warm them through.
    If