KEY POINTS:
Serves 6
1.5kg of waxy potatoes all the same size - medium
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Few sprigs of fresh rosemary
1kg rock salt
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup water
Preheat oven to 180C. Scrub potatoes and quickly brown in olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary.
Place in a fairly deep oven proof dish - about 28cm x 22cm.
In a large bowl, mix together the rock salt, flour and water. Pour this over the potatoes, press in and bake for one hour.
Remove from oven and invert on to a bread board. It will all stay together in a hard piece and doesn't make any mess at all.
When they cook potatoes like this on the Ile de Ré, they sometimes also add whole unpeeled shallots and serve the lot with cream.