Potatoes Anna November 2, 2009

Anna, I love your potatoes.

How could four simple ingredients–potatoes, salt, pepper and butter–taste so darn good? This is seriously delicious and easy and beautiful. I can’t say enough how impressed I was with myself. The top and bottom are crunchy like potato chips, but the middle layers are soft and creamy. I co-worker saw me eating the leftovers at lunch and immediately went home to make his own. Feel free to add some chopped rosemary or garlic, but it’s also great on its own.

Potatoes Anna

Makes 8 servings

• 2 3/4 pounds russet potatoes (about 6), peeled
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
• Salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 450°. Using a mandoline, slice potatoes, 1/4 inch thick, or thinner. (Do not place potatoes in water at this point; the starch is needed to bind the layers.) (I don’t own a mandoline, so I used the blade attachment on my food processor. You can cut them by hand, but it’s hard to get them as thin as necessary.)

2. Brush bottom of a 10-inch cast-iron skillet or a 9 1/2-inch deep-dish pie plate with 1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter. Starting in center of pan, arrange potato slices in a circular pattern, overlapping the edges. Evenly brush with 1 1/2 tablespoons butter; season with salt and pepper. Repeat with remaining potatoes and butter, creating 2 more layers. (The next time I make this I will do 7 or 8 layers to get some good height.) Finish with a final layer of butter, salt, and pepper. When arranging potatoes, be sure to fill in all the spaces.

3. Place over medium-high heat until the edges of the potatoes begin to brown, 3 to 4 minutes. If you are not using a cast-iron skillet, this step is not necessary.

4. Place in oven, and bake until potatoes are fork tender, 45 to 55 minutes for the cast-iron skillet and 1 to 1 1/2 hours for the pie plate. Remove from oven, and let rest 5 to 10 minutes. Using a small spatula, separate potato edges from sides of pan. Shake pan and slide a spatula along bottom to loosen potatoes. Carefully invert onto a flat serving platter. Slice and serve.

 

GRADE: A+

♥Lady Butterbuns

 

PS-I forgot to mention that the recipe came from this lovely lady. Also, a friend suggested using clarified butter so that the bottom doesn’t over-brown. Sounds smart to me.

Summer Vegetable and Potato Salad August 11, 2009

Amazing Potatoes.

If you’re like me, a salad that isn’t covered in ranch dressing, tortilla chips, shredded cheese or fried chicken is not exactly what I’d call “appetizing.” But lo and behold, the good folks at Food & Wine have come up with a summer salad that has lots of flavor but none of the fattening stuff. Now don’t be scared by the anchovies. Chances are, if you’ve ever had an authentic Caesar salad, you’ve had anchovies. The flavor is actually mild and deliciously salty. Never until this salad did I realize how kind of amazing fingerling potatoes really are. They’re so creamy and once they’ve cooked in the rosemary water, they take on such a wonderfully nuanced flavor you’ll want to cook your potatoes this way every time. I added the spinach because, well, I had some. If you added tuna or salmon or chicken, you’d have a lovely main course. As is, it makes a nice post-workout lunch with a few flax seed crackers.

Makes 4 servings

• 4 ounces yellow wax beans
• 4 ounces thin green beans
• 6 cloves garlic
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 sprig thyme
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon peppercorns
• 12 sm. fingerling potato scrub, skin on
• 2 oil-packed anchovy fillets
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup evoo
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon chop parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon chop marjoram
• 12 cherry tomatoes halved

ACTIVE TIME: 25 MIN/TOTAL TIME: 40 MIN
This recipe comes from Jonathan Benno.

In a saucepan of boiling salted water, cook the yellow beans until just tender, 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the beans to a baking sheet and let cool. Add the green beans to the boiling water and cook until just tender, 2 minutes. Using the slotted spoon, add the green beans to the baking sheet. Let cool, then pat dry.

Add the garlic, bay leaves, thyme, rosemary and peppercorns to the boiling water. Add the potatoes and simmer over moderately high heat until tender, about 20 minutes. Careful here. I only cooked my 12 minutes. Drain the potatoes, reserving the garlic cloves. Discard the seasonings.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, soak the anchovies in the milk for 10 minutes. I actually could stand more anchovy taste, so I would skip the soak next time. Drain the anchovies, then coarsely chop them and transfer to a blender. Add the olive oil and the reserved garlic and puree. With the machine on, slowly add the vinegar. Scrape the dressing into a bowl, season with salt and pepper and stir in the parsley and marjoram.

Slice the boiled potatoes 1/4 inch thick and put them in a large bowl. Add half of the anchovy dressing and toss gently. Add the yellow and green beans, the cherry tomatoes and the remaining dressing, toss gently and serve.

Grade: B+

♥Lady Butterbuns