I’m sure that some of you can exactly imagine how I’m writing this article…  snug on the sofa with a blanket for my legs, and a cup of tea to keep nice and warm 🙂  Winter in Malta may not reach the current lows (and even below 0 degrees) of the rest of Europe, but it is nevertheless challenging.  Current temperature is around 6 degrees outside and inside the houses.  Hence the cosy blanket and cuppa tea.

Solutions for trying to heat up your current dwelling would be to either heat your rooms with a gas or electric heater (or air-conditioning) or you do as I – you turn to your trusty kitchen and use your oven to cook!

Today I felt like chicken wings which I picked up marinated already from my local store but seeing I had the oven heating up for the wings, why not cook myself a nice potato gratin for dinner too?  The twist for the day is however, to use coconut milk instead of cooking cream to try and make this lovely dish a little healthier.

What you need (per person):

• 2 medium sized potatoes, washed and peeled
• approx 50 -75ml coconut milk
• some grated cheese (I used a mix of cheddar and mozzarella as I had that in the fridge)
• pepper & salt to season
• some fresh chives or parsley (optional)

How you make it:

Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees celsius (approx. 350 degrees F) and in mean time, wash and peel your potatoes.  Slice your peeled potatoes in thin slices of approx 2-3mm thick. If you have a mandolin, you may be able to slice these more evenly than with a conventional kitchen nice, just be careful for your fingers!

Take a ramekin and put your potato slices in, scalloped so they overlap.  I would not recommend that you fill them all the way to the top, the first time I tried this, my cream boiled that much, it boiled over and my oven became a sticky mess (*sad face*).  Lesson learned, I left about 1,5 to 2 cm from the top of the ramekin free.

Potato Slices in the Ramekin

Coconut Milk with pepper, salt, parsley and chives

Open up your can or pack of coconut milk, and put approx 50 to 75ml in a small mixing bowl. Season with pepper, salt, chives and parsley to flavour and stir thoroughly. Now poor this mix over your potato slices and just cover them.  Then put the grated cheese on top and place in your now hot oven for 20 to 25 min till cooked through.

Poor the coconut milk in to just cover

add some grated cheese

Serve hot and enjoy the heat of your oven too!