Potato pavé with sour cream and chives

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C (fan-forced). Place the cream into a large bowl and season well with salt. Place a mandolin directly over the bowl and slice the potatoes very thinly (about 1 mm, so that you can see light through the potato), directly into the cream. Mix gently to combine.
   
2. You will need 2 x loaf tins (22 cm x 12 cm) for this recipe – one to bake the potatoes, one to help press the potato bake later. Grease 1 tin with butter and line with baking paper so the paper overhangs the tin quite a lot.
   
3. Layer the sliced potatoes into the tin, adding around 1 tbsp cream with each layer, continuing until the tin is full. Fold in the overhanging baking paper over the potato and then cover tightly with foil. Bake for 1 ¾ - 2 hours, then remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes.
   
4. Remove the foil and place the second loaf tin on top of the first tin, to press the potatoes down. Place some cans or weights in the top tin to weigh it down. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate the potatoes for 8 hours.
   
5. Remove the potatoes from the tin. Trim the edges and slice into long, thick blocks. Heat the vegetable oil in a medium frying pan and add a few of the potato blocks with the thyme and garlic. Fry until golden-brown on one side, then flip and add the butter to the pan. Baste the potatoes with the hot butter until golden-brown all over. Remove the potato pavé to a serving plate and serve with sour cream, chives and a squeeze of lemon.