Saturday, January 7, 2012

Pommes Anna (Potato Cake)

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 Pommes Anna (Potato Cake) }





My brother's girlfriend. Meghan, knows me to well. Actually we are pretty much the same person. Our personalities are almost identical.


(oo Adam, sorry that you're dating someone so much like your sister haha)


For Christmas, Meghan bought me Chef Anne Burrell's Cook Book, "Cook like a Rock Star". I love this cook book. I also love Chef Anne Burrell so yes... this was perfect for me. 


The first thing I made from the cookbook was the " Pommes Chef Anne"




"Pommes Chef Anne" is really Pommes Anna but with no butter. Chef Anne uses extra virgin olive oil instead of the traditional butter.


It was certainly a keeper, as far as recipes go. We loved it. I served it alongside our dinner and it turned out to be a perfect side dish. 


When I first removed the dish from the oven and flipped it over,  I was worried a little that I had burnt the top of the dish to much. But thankfully it was just a little "browner" than Anne's. 


Also Anne doesn't state how long to brown the top on the cake in the skillet. I would recommend about 5 minutes, when you get to that part in the recipe. When you're heating this on the stove top, you can't actually see the top of the cake (which is upside down in the pan..so the top that you are looking at will really end up as the bottom. Once I could smell the potatoes and cheese baking I knew it was done on top. 






Anne also says that the recipe serves 4. But we had the slices as a "side dish", and we got about 6 slices from the cake. I also added a little more cheese to mine and left out the salt.






Pommes Anna (Potato Cake)
Serves 4-6


What you need:



3 russet potatoes
1 cup grated Parmigiano
Extra-virgin olive oil


You will also need:
Extra-virgin olive oil
8-inch nonstick saute pan
Mandoline

What to do:



Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Thinly slice the potatoes with a Mandoline.

Brush an 8-inch nonstick oven-safe saute pan with olive oil.

Take the potato slices and place them one at a time into the pan. Starting from the center of the pan make circles with the potatoes slices. Layer them as you go. 

Don't forget that the bottom will be the top when everything is done, so make sure that this looks nice and pretty.

As you're making the circle layers, brush each layer with olive oil.


Sprinkle the cheese in between every other layer.


After the last layer is placed, and the olive oil has been brushed on sprinkle with more of these cheese. Press the cake down to compact everything. 


Over medium heat, cook the potato cake for about 5 minutes so that the potatoes on the bottom can brown.  After 5 minutes the potatoes should be sizzling.


Place the pan into the oven and bake for 20.


Remove the pan from the oven and place a lid on top of the pan. 


!!THIS STEP IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!!


Drain the excess oil out the side of the pan. Once all of the extra oil has been drained out, flip the pan so the potato cake is turned out onto the bottom of the lid.


Carefully slide the cake off the lid back into the pan so the brown side of the cake is now upwards.


Return the potato cake to the oven and bake for 15 minutes.


Cut into wedges.






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