This recipe comes from Chef Leslie Bilderback’s cookbook The Complete Idiots Guide to Comfort Food. I wrote about it in my blog, Comfort Foods.

Most of you probably know the recipe as Potatoes Anna but it comes from France and in French, it’s called Pommes Anna. Chef Bilderback explains in her cookbook that the French word pommes means apples but pommes du terre (potatoes) are “apples of the ground”.

At the end of Chef Bilderback’s recipe she has some suggestions for alternative versions. My wife tried one of her suggestions and added her own by topping the dish with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese. It turned out to be a welcome addition.

Pommes Anna

Ingredients

6 tablespoons melted butter
3 large russet potatoes
Salt & black pepper, to taste

How to Make Potatoes Anna

Preheat your oven to 375º F. Coat the bottom of a shallow baking pan or casserole pan with 2 tablespoons of melted butter. Arrange one layer of the potato slices on the bottom of the pan in an overlapping spiral, covering the entire bottom of the pan. Brush with some of the melted butter, season with a little salt & pepper.

Repeat layering the potato slices until there are no more. Be sure to brush each layer with some of the melted butter and a little salt & pepper.

Cover the pan with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and continue baking until the potatoes are tender and golden, about 15 to 20 minutes more.

Let the pan potatoes cool down for 5 minutes before serving. To serve, cut into wedges.

Alternatives

Anna and Onions: Alternate layers of potatoes with layers of thinly sliced yellow onions.

Pumpkin Anna: Replace the potatoes with thinly sliced pumpkin or butternut squash. These vegetables can also be layered alternately with potatoes. Add a sprinkle of nutmeg with the salt and pepper between the layers.

Anna Meets Meg’s Potatoes: My wife made this dish with butternut squash. She used 1 squash that she peeled, seeded and sliced thin with the help of our food processor. She alternated layers of potatoes and squash as described above and topped it off with Parmesan cheese. She wasn’t sure if she sprinkled a little nutmeg between layers but don’t me, “It couldn’t hurt.”

A Quesadillas Recipe from Chef Enedina Andrews

This recipe was sent to me from Chef Enedina Andrews of The Clandestine Chef Experience out of Denver, Colorado. I interviewed Chef Andrews as part of my Novice2Pro Chef Interviews. This is one of her favorite recipes.

Blue Cheese & Pear Quesadillas with Mango Salsa

For quesadillas:                                                
6 oz of soft blue cheese Maytag blue    
12 Flour tortillas                                  
1 ripe pear, cut in thin slices                  
12 whole dried apricots, diced              
1/2 cup red onion, diced                       
Canola oil                                           
3 tablespoons honey
 
Mango Salsa
1 ripe mango peeled, cut in small dice
1 small jalapeno, cut in small dice
1/4 cup red onion, cut in small dice
Half of one lime zested & juiced
3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, finely chopped
Salt & pepper

Directions:
1.Take one tortilla spread the softened blue cheese taking care not to spread to the edges place pears, diced apricots, and red onion on top of cheese, top with an other tortilla.

2. Over medium heat, in a nonstick skillet add a little canola oil to cover the bottom of pan. Place the quesadilla in the pan cook for 5 to 10 minutes or until golden, flip over cook other side.

3. Remove from pan drizzle with honey top with mango salsa and serve.
 
For Mango Salsa
Mix all ingredients in a small bowl season with salt and pepper to taste.

What Is This Interesting Vegetable

My wife brought this odd looking vegetable home from the farmers market they have at her workplace. I had never seen one before but it certainly looked interesting so I steamed it up and served it as a side dish with our meal that night. It was delicious. Tasted more like cauliflower but only more tender.

I don’t think you will find it in many supermarkets but if you can find it, try it. This relative of the cauliflower family is lime green and has cone-shaped florets.  You want to select heads that are very dense and bright in color and stay away from any with bruised florets. This can stay in the refrigerator for about a week, but I promise, it won’t last that long once you taste it.

Only Martha Stewart

My wife happened to be looking at her Martha Stewart November 2007 Living Magazine and what did she find? A recipe featuring Broccoli Romanesco and Parmesan Puree.  Only Martha would have a recipe for an esoteric vegetable only found in local farmers’ markets. And, it looks like a great one I can’t wait to try this Thanksgiving.

If you can’t find Broccoli Romanesco, you can substitute a head of broccoli and a head of cauliflower instead.

Broccoli Romanesco and Parmesan Puree
Adapted from Martha Stewart Living Magazine

Ingredients

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 ½ pounds broccoli Romanesco (about two heads), cut into ¾ inch pieces
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
½ cup water
Coarse salt (Kosher or sea)
½ cup whole milk
½ cup heavy cream
½ cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese plus more for adding at the end
Freshly ground pepper, to taste

How to Make at Home

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the broccoli Romanesco and sliced garlic cook until brightly colored and starting to turn golden brown. This should take about 8 – 10 minutes.  Remove and reserve a few pieces for garnishing but leave the rest.

Add water and 1 teaspoon of salt to the skillet. Cover and cook until the broccoli Romanesco until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain any remaining liquid from the skillet.

In your food processor or blender, puree half the broccoli Romanesco and transfer to a large bowl. Puree the remaining broccoli Romanesco.

In a separate saucepan, bring the milk and cream to a gentle simmer. Add the milk and cream mixture to the food processor with the second batch and pulse to combine. Add this mixture to the first batch in the bowl and mix gently together.

Add the Parmigiano-Reggiano, season with salt and pepper and mix together. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Garnish with the reserved broccoli Romanesco and a little more of the Parmigiano cheese.

Serve as a side dish.