Recipe for Potatoes Anna

I have loved potatoes Anna since I discovered them wearing a tartan pinafore under a mulberry bush behind a kipper wholesaler in Abroath.  

In other words I have no idea when or where I first encountered these simple and elegant potatoes. Why are they called potatoes Anna? Don’t know, presumably named after some famed beauty of the age (read concubine), and possibly around the ear of the great Chef Escoffier but really the simplicity of this dish could have been created by anyone with some potatoes and butter mountain. 

What I really like about them is that this really is a base recipe that can be expanded on almost ad nauseam… (Wait nauseam?)if you place paper thin sliced onions in-between the layers of potatoes you have potatoes Lyonnais, you can add parsley, or rosemary, or lemon, paprika or basil or roast dried cow pie! It is up to you! The world is your bivalve seize it by the throat and choke the life out of it.  Or just spritz it with a little lemon juice and swallow it alive. Ahhh oysters the last vivisection allowable by law. 

Isn’t that animal cruelty though? I mean if you ate a chicken alive I am sure that someone would denounce you in the media, social services would show up to take your kids away, and Barbara Walters would turn over in her grave…what do you mean she’s not dead? Really? Wow, ok.

Perfect accompaniment to a stove top entrée such as a steak or a vegetable sauté, the only downside is that the potatoes should be cut paper thin, meaning the need for a mandolin, a food processor or an extremely steady hand and razor sharp knife. 

Here I present the simplified method, and also the reduced fat method (yes the below recipe is reduced in fat from the original, horrifying does not even begin to describe it). 

For six marshmallowy peeps:

3 pounds of potatoes peeled or just well scrubbed your preference

6 pounds of butter, kidding just 6 tablespoons (Still a lot I know, you can reduce it if you like)

Salt and fresh cracked black pepper 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Melt the butter over low heat in a small sauce pan, not by placing butter cube directly on the stove top burner, which would be bloody stupid. Slice the potatoes wafer thin on a mandoline (a kitchen utensil designed for slicing things, not the stringed musical instrument of the lute family) or in a food processor. Place in a bowl of cold water. Place about a tablespoon of the melted butter in the center of a round or oval baking dish (or a pie pan) use a paper towel to spread the butter all over the pan (not the outside, freaks…) then working quickly, dry off some potato slices on a paper towel and lay in the pan in overlapping concentric circles. When you have a layer complete brush the potatoes with melted butter and sprinkle with a pinch of salt and a few twists of black pepper. Continue doing this until you run out of potatoes.  I make a rosette for the center out of a few really perfect slices of potato. You do not have to do this, I am just a freak.  Bake for 45 min to an hour till slightly crispy and browned. Cut into wedges and serve.