This is a great example of why it’s good to see pictures with recipes. What you see here was incredibly simple and really tasty but, it turns out, not quite how potatoes Anna traditionally comes out. I’ll try the traditional version next time I’m looking to impress guests, but I think for myself I’ll stick with this … deconstructed version. (Makes it sound intentional when I say it that way, doesn’t it?
Ingredients
1 baking potato per person
2 tablespoons butter per potato
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
You can peel the potatoes if you want to. I like the skins, so I just wash them. Slice about a quarter-inch thick.
Arrange slices, overlapping, in a pie plate.
Melt butter and pour over potatoes.
Season with salt and pepper.
Cover tightly with foil.
Bake at 400° for 30 minutes.
Remove foil and bake for another 20 minutes, until the tops of the potatoes start to char.
You can speed this process up by putting it under the broiler for a minute or two. If you go for this quick method, don’t walk away. Once the top starts to bubble, it can shoot through “char” to “charcoal” in about eight seconds.
Serve with bacon-wrapped beef tenderloin and broiled asparagus.
Or, you know, with hot dogs if you want.
Now, remember where I said this isn’t the way this dish is traditionally done? I was following what I thought was a family recipe, named after some relative named “Anna”. Turns out this is a classic French dish — Pommes Anna — from the time of Napoleon.
The classic preparation is to slice the potatoes very thin, like on a mandoline slicer
7 Comments
That looks really good. I’ve been looking for some new potato recipes. Thanks!
Looks delicious! I like my potatoes with the skin on, too. I just wash them.
It makes me hungry at the time and I am not so good cook so need proper guidance too after recipe. I am trying everything by my hand as I have moved to hostel living.
I just discovered that I could zoom in on your pictures and scroll through the enlarged versions! I’m a duh! But very Cool (no pun intended). What I was looking at is the spots in your slices… I always cut that stuff out… doesn’t look appetizing… to me anyway. So spots won’t kill me? lol Oh, I read somewhere that the green tinge just under the surface of the peel is toxic… but you’d have to eat a lot of potatoes to make you sick!
The green under the skin is chlorophyll, which is not toxic. But it means that means the potatoes have been exposed to light, which can cause several other compounds to develop which are toxic.
So the dark spots I don’t worry too much about, but green ones I avoid.
I made these tonight in a cast iron skillet, sharing the oven with baked chicken – they cook almost the exact same time and temp. Oh my gosh, it was so good!!! Thanks for the recipe – so simple, but I would never have thought of it.
*Drool*… that looks SO GOOD! I think I am going to put tomorrows plans of broccoli casserole on hold (make it but not bake it), and try this!