Pommes Anna

Pommes Anna

For the garlic herb butter:

½ C (114g) unsalted butter

3 cloves garlic, minced

3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

2 tsp finely chopped fresh thyme leaves

1 tsp kosher salt (use 2 tsp if using Diamond Crystal brand)

Black pepper to taste

For the Potato Stacks:

3 lb (1360g) yellow or Yukon Gold potatoes, sliced 1/16” thick

12 small sprigs of fresh thyme

½ C (50g) grated parmesan cheese

Neutral oil for brushing muffin tin

To finish:

Flakey salt such as Maldon salt 

Preheat oven to 375f (190c). Lightly brush the cups of a 12-cup muffin tin with oil. If you happen to have a 6-cup muffin tin, you can stretch the amount of potatoes to make up to 18 stacks. Otherwise, pile stacks up high for 12 slightly heaped stacks, keeping in mind the potatoes sink down as they cook.

Melt butter and stir in garlic, parsley, chopped thyme, salt and black pepper. Set aside to cool.

Slice potatoes with skin on, very thinly about 1/16”. I highly recommend using a mandolin to get super thin slices of potatoes in relatively little time. Evenly-thick slices are important for even cooking. If you don’t have a mandolin, slice carefully with a sharp knife. Place sliced potatoes in a large mixing bowl and toss with cooled garlic herb butter.

Assemble potato stacks. In each oiled muffin cup, place a small sprig of thyme, followed by slices of potatoes starting with smaller pieces and ending with the larger pieces. About 1/3 and 2/3 of the way up the stack, sprinkle a bit of grated parmesan. For the prettiest stacks, stagger potato slices a little rather than matching them up in a neat column. Divide evenly among the 12 cups. It’s okay if the potato stacks are a little taller than the rim of the muffin cups because they will sink down as they cook.

Cover muffin tin tightly with foil. Bake in preheated 375f oven for 25 minutes or whenever potatoes are tender (use a skewer to poke one stack to check – the skewer should easily slide all the way through and back out). Increase oven heat to 425f. Remove foil and return to bake uncovered for 8 - 10 minutes more, or whenever edges are browned and crispy, and tops are golden brown. Keep a close eye on them during the final few minutes of browning.

Use a soup spoon to make sure the edges are loose and dislodge the stacks from the muffin tin. Serve upside down (with thyme sprig facing up) with a sprinkle of flaky salt.

*Set the mandolin to "0", 3 lbs will be enough for 2 12 cup muffin pans. I added parmesan after the 3rd or 4th layer and then again after 3 layers making sure there were layers on top of the parmesan so it wouldn't stick. I also just used PAM to spray the cups.