Food - Drink
Pommes Anna: The Potato Showstopper You Should Make
By KATHERINE BECK
Mashed potatoes and scalloped potatoes are delicious, popular for the holidays, and relatively easy to make, but pommes Anna is a beautiful French potato dish that you need to try when you want to pull out all the stops. The dish consists of thinly-sliced potatoes layered in a round pan and baked or fried for a crispy top layer and creamy middle.
Pommes Anna is credited to Adolphe Dugléré, who developed his skills under Marie-Antoine Carême, the chef behind France's "haute cuisine"; the name may have come from Anna Deslions, an entertainer at Café Anglais in Paris. To make this classy-looking side dish, start by slicing the potatoes uniformly by using a mandoline.
Traditionally, the potatoes are layered in a pan that is hot and buttered, so the slices fry as they are laid down, but you can layer the potatoes in a pan and pour melted butter over each layer. The three layers are each seasoned with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, then cooked for about 25 minutes until golden on the bottom and crisp on the outside.
The cooked pommes Anna needs to be removed from the pan and placed on a serving platter; Betty Crocker recommends using a small spatula to loosen the potatoes, then to gently shake to dislodge them. Invert the potatoes onto the plate, and then cut them into wedges for serving and garnish with parmesan or whatever else you like.