Pommes Anna

We found a recipe for Potatoes Anna, but the potatoes had to be boiled first, then sliced, then layered in a skillet to cook again. It seemed like a lot of steps so I looked for a different recipe for the same name. I found this recipe by Emeril.

The ingredients were easy to get together. Little Chef C knew which potato peeler to choose. She used the “Y” peeler last time and realized it was difficult. She did well peeling the potatoes even though there were peels all over the floor when she was finished. I didn’t have a problem with that, but she did forget to clean them up.

She has used the mandolin before and did much better this time. She said, “At first I need help (when the potato is huge) then I can do it for a while, then it gets hard.” She still cannot slice the last 1/3 of the potato. I suppose that means she can only slice the middle 1/3 herself! Perhaps because the cutting was not smooth all pieces were not equal in thickness. Oh well, that is normal for us!

She loved layering the potatoes. To make Pommes Anna the correct way the potatoes are beautifully layered in a circular shape. She was not that partular about where she placed the potatoes. She did keep track of the order; potatoes, butter, salt, pepper, potatoes… Painting the potatoes with melted butter was so much fun for her.

Sprinkling with salt and pepper…she was very generous.

The potatoes were finished in the oven, then flipped over, not so gracefully onto a plate. We needed more butter in the pan at the very beginning because it stuck, luckily not too much. Little Chef A said “I mostly like the brown ones because they have a bit more flavoring then the white ones.” I agree completely with her. Maybe next time we should try slicing the potatoes in the Cuisinart instead. That might be a better tool for Little Chef C. This is a recipe I want to do again, it was great!

Pommes Anna

Emeril Lagasse

Ingredients

2 pounds large Yukon gold potatoes
1/4 cup clarified butter
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Peel and trim the potatoes into a uniform cylindrical shape. Cut the cylinders into thin, 1/16-inch slices, preferably with a mandoline so that the slices are of uniform thickness.

Liberally brush an 8-inch saute pan with clarified butter and arrange the potato slices in concentric rings emanating from the center of the pan. Lightly brush each layer with clarified butter and season each layer lightly with salt and pepper. Place the potatoes on the stovetop and cook undisturbed over medium heat until golden brown on the bottom, about 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer the potatoes to the oven and cook until caramelized and cooked through, about 30 minutes, pressing the potatoes occasionally to compress and shaking the pan to keep the potatoes from sticking to the bottom.

Drain the excess butter from the pan and turn the potato cake out onto a cutting board. Slice into quarters.