French | Pommes Anna

Posted on October 27, 2012

I tweaked the recipe a bit. The original recipe had you arranging the potatoes with the heat on. I didn't like reaching into a hot pan. Also the first time that I made this dish using that method, I burned the potatoes because it took me too long to arrange them. So the next time, I turned the heat on to melt the butter, then off, arranged the potatoes, and then turned the heat on again. It worked great.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients

3 to 4 medium russet potatoes

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

kosher sea salt, to taste

freshly ground pepper, to taste

 

Method

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Peel and thinly slice the potatoes.

Heat the oil and 2 tablespoons of the butter in a 7-8" fry pan or cast iron skillet with an ovenproof handle. Once the butter melts, turn the heat off.

Arrange the potato slices in an overlapping spiral in the bottom of the pan. Add another layer of potatoes and salt and pepper them. Dot with butter. Continue adding potatoes, salting, peppering and buttering the layers until the pan is full.

Turn on the heat and cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes until the potatoes are well browned on the bottom. Place pan in the center of the preheated oven and cook 25 to 30 minutes. (I cooked for 25 minutes.) They are done when a skewer inserted into the potatoes shows that they are tender.

To serve, loosen potatoes with a spatula and invert onto a serving platter.

 

(Ref. PCI's "Pommes Anna" recipe, "Fundamental Cooking Techniques III" class.)