Pommes Anna

• servings: 4
• active time: 20 minutes
• total time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Ingredients

2 lbs medium or large yukon gold potatoes, peeled and sliced into ~⅛” rounds with a mandolin, left unrinsed. (can sub for russets for a less creamy but still good dish)

4 tbsp melted unsalted butter

Rosemary, leaves removed from sprig

Thyme sprigs

Grated parmigiano reggiano cheese

Salt to taste

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 F. In a wide, deep, oven-safe pan, brush a thin layer of the melted butter onto the bottom. Sprinkle some salt and lay down a few thyme sprigs. Cover the bottom with a layer of sliced potatoes, overlapping each slice by about half. Build up until the bottom is completely evenly covered.

Brush some butter onto the layer and add a pinch of salt. Throw in some rosemary leaves and a grating of parmigiano reggiano cheese, then continue building up the next layer. Continue this until you’ve used up all of your potato slices.

Place the pan over medium-high heat and cook until you can smell / hear the bottom browning and crisping up. It’s easy to burn at this stage, so under-do it if you’re unsure. Remove from the heat.

Brush one side of a piece of aluminum big enough to cover the pan with some butter. Pour any of the remaining butter over the pan, add a final pinch of salt and grate some cheese over the top layer. Place the foil butter-side down onto the potatoes, covering them as much as you can. Weigh down the foil with something heavy and oven safe that fits within the pan, like a dutch oven. Add the pan and weight to the oven carefully, then bake for 25 minutes.

Remove the weights and foil, then continue baking uncovered until knife tender, about 20 minutes more.

Remove from the oven and turn on the broiler. Broil until the top is golden brown, about 5-7 minutes.

Using a spatula, gently slide the pan to see if the potato cake slides around easily. If some parts are stuck, use a knife or spatula to pry off the brown layers if possible. Either way, carefully invert the potato cake onto a serving dish.

Cut the potato cake into wedges and serve hot.

Notes

A French dish consisting of just potatoes, butter, herbs, and salt. Thinly sliced potatoes are layered into a pan like filo sheets in baklava, with layers of butter, herbs, and cheese interspersed. This is a simple but rewarding dish, great as a side or paired with an acidic sauce as an entree. The recipe as written includes my recommendations of herbs and other additions, but feel free to experiment with whatever sounds good at the moment. Keep in mind that as you modify this recipe for different servings, you’ll need to change the size of the pan used.