I’m just saying if we’re at a restaurant together, you can have whatever comes with my sandwich, no questions asked. I do, however, make an exception for mashed potatoes.
As a self proclaimed Francophile, I’m always looking for ways to infuse our Midwestern fare with French flavor. And while I have nothing against mashed potatoes, in fact, I love them atop shepherd’s pie or piled beside some turkey meatloaf, they’re an everyday potato. Not an occasion potato. I really don’t think they’re worthy of a place beside the jewel-toned cranberry sauce and celery-pocked, buttery stuffing that we only eat once a year. Mashed potatoes are the sweatpants of the potato cuisine, not the suits. And Thanksgiving is for suits.
There is also the issue of mashed potato service. Are we keeping them in Crock-Pots? Are we making them at the very last minute while the turkey cools and our other sides get cold? Are we keeping them warm in the oven so that they’re no longer whipped when we pull them out to serve? Are we baking them in a casserole dish and still calling them mashed potatoes, even though they’re not?
Two years ago I created my own version of a French layered potato dish called Potato Dauphinoise and the family quickly reported that I needn’t mess with mashed potatoes again, not on Thanksgiving at least.
The dish takes a couple pounds of thinly sliced yellow potatoes and layers them with a mixture of half and half and crème fraîche that has been whisked together. The layers are baked for about an hour until the potatoes are steaming and tender and the top is golden.
Breaking the thin golden crust with your serving spoon to reveal the layers of cream-cooked potatoes is like the ribbon cutting of the Thanksgiving meal. You’ll forget other starches ever existed. Mashed potatoes, who?
”But First, Food” columnist Whitney Kling is a recipe developer who lives in southwest Ohio with her four kids and a cat. She is usually in the kitchen creating something totally addictive — and usually writing about it.
Potatoes Dauphinoise
Serves 6
Cook time 90 minutes
4 lbs. gold potatoes, washed and sliced thinly on a mandolin
2 7.5 oz. containers of crème fraîche
1 cup half & half
Kosher salt
Pepper
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl whisk together the crème fraîche and half & half until smooth. In a shallow oiled baking dish, spread out one layer of potatoes. Do not be concerned with overlapping. In some areas there will be two or three layers of potato and this is completely fine. Spoon one cup of the crème mixture over the potatoes. Season with 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper. Repeat steps until you’re out of potatoes. Top with the last of the crème mixture and more salt and pepper. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour, covering with foil if the top browns too much. Serve warm.
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