Nigella Lawson served up a easy make-ahead garlic and Parmesan mash on the Christmas episode of Nigella: At My Table.

The ingredients are: 2kg potatoes, such as Maris Piper, peeled and cut into large equal-sized chunks, 8 fat garlic cloves, bruised and slightly splintered with the flat side of a wide-bladed knife, then slipped out of their skins, 2 tsp sea salt flakes, plus extra to taste, 75g unsalted butter, softened and 50g Parmesan, finely grated.

For the optional topping: 50g dried breadcrumbs or panko, 50g unsalted butter, in blobs or teaspoons and 35g Parmesan, finely grated.

See the recipe in Nigella’s new book titled: At My Table: A Celebration of Home Cooking, available from Amazon now.