Pommes Anna
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.
Potatoes Anna or Pommes Anna
Chef Leslie Bilderback's version of Potatoes Anna
Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons melted butter
- 3 large russet potatoes
- salt & black pepper to taste
Instructions
- 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 to me, "It couldn't hurt."
The original and all its variations sound wonderful. I know I’d love the squash one. I make a similar dish (got it from the potato bag of all places!) from my newlywed years, layering the potatoes with shredded swiss and shredded parmesan in addition to the melted butter and the salt and pepper. It’s very cheesey and very good with a simple pork roast or roast beef au jus. Now that I’m thinking on it, I’ll be it’s yummy with sweet potatoes mixed with the yellow golds.