With only hours to go until the big feast - I realized that I hadn't given you this recipe - and if your menu isn't set in stone - these would be a great addition...creamy, cheesey potatoes - what could go better with an Easter feast than this? Of course, this is a total rip-off of the classic Pommes Anna, or Potatoes Anna...which is a lovely dish in and of itself but after tweaking it a bit, I can tell you that I think Anna, whoever she is, would have been pleased because these are dang good...as in a 5 danger on the old meter!
Allow me to pause from the recipe for a moment...because I have big news to share, well, big for MY world...the mister broke all kinds of records last night - world land speed records! He walked into the house at exactly 7:10 pm, set down his crap, turned on the TV, patted the wonderdog, uttered something unintelligible to me then raced up the stairs - as in two at a time. At 7:14 he reappeared in the kitchen, wearing his pajamas. 4 minutes flat, and that included a potty stop. 4 minutes. And they weren't even new pj's...I can't even imagine how much faster he would have been had they been new?!? So today I'm going to purchase him some new pj's for Easter - that's kind of our custom - and I'll be watching, with a stop-watch to see just how long it takes him to get the new ones on...if you hear a sonic boom just before dusk, you'll know what it was!
If you have a slicer attachment on your food processor (I do not) or if you have a mandoline, then thinly slicing the potatoes will take no time whatsoever...I sliced mine by hand - trying my best to keep them as thin as I could without adding any flesh - and really, that's the only hard thing about this recipe...layered into a pan that can go from the stove to the oven, sprinkled in between layers with cream and Parmesan cheese - these will make your Easter feast - or any feast - worth the calories!
Real Potatoes Anna don't have Parmesan cheese or cream...pity, really, because as good as the real ones are, these are TEN TIMES BETTER!
Potatoes Nan-a - Pots and Pins
10 to 12 medium potatoes, thinly sliced, skins left on (I used Yukon Gold)
1/2 stick butter, melted
1 cup cream
1 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
salt and pepper
Fresh chives
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet that can go into the oven, pour 2 tablespoons melted butter. Put one layer of potatoes in pan, completely covering bottom of pan and brush melted butter on top of potatoes, sprinkle about a tablespoon or so of cream over potatoes, sprinkle about a tablespoon of Parmesan cheese over the cream and add salt and pepper. Put on a second layer of potatoes, completely covering the first, and repeat with the butter, cream, Parmesan and salt and pepper. Continue in this manner until the pan is filled to the top with the layered potato mixture. Then if you have any cream or butter left, pour it over the top and finish with whatever Parmesan cheese you have left. Put pan on stove top and over medium-high heat, cook until bottom layer is brown, about 5 to 7 minutes. (You can check by using a spatula to carefully lift up the layers.) When the bottom is brown and crispy, put into the oven and bake for 1 hour, until the top is golden brown and crispy. Remove from oven and slice into wedges, top each serving with a sprinkling of fresh chives. Serves 8.
"Giving presents is a talent; to know what a person wants, to know when and how to get it, to give it lovingly and well." ~ Pamela Glenconner
