Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 2 (170 page)

4 to 5 Tb clarified butter

A heavy, medium-sized (10-inch) frying pan, either cast iron or no-stick

About 2½ lbs. “boiling” potatoes in round, 1¼-inch slices ⅛ inch thick, well dried

About 4 ounces (1 cup) Swiss cheese cut into 1-inch slices less than ⅛ inch thick (use slicing slot of a grater)

Salt and pepper

Small pinches of nutmeg

A cover for the frying pan

A flexible-blade spatula

A hot serving dish

Following illustrated directions in preceding Master Recipe, pour ¼ inch of butter into frying pan. Set over moderate heat and rapidly arrange an overlapping layer of potato slices in the pan, shaking pan gently from time to time to prevent sticking. Baste with a sprinkling of butter, arrange a second layer over the first, and over this second layer of potatoes arrange a layer of cheese slices. Season the third layer of potatoes with salt, pepper, and a speck of nutmeg. Continue filling the pan with potatoes, cheese, seasonings, and end with a layer of potatoes. When filled, shake pan gently again and let cook 3 to 5 minutes over moderately high heat to be sure the bottom of potatoes is crusting. Then cover pan and set over low heat for about 45 minutes, or until potatoes are tender when pierced with a small knife. (Be sure heat is not too high, or bottom of potatoes will brown too much.) Run spatula all around edge of pan and underneath to loosen potatoes, and unmold upside down on serving dish.

TOURTE LIMOUSINE

[Potato Pie with Herbs and Cream]

Another attractive way to serve potatoes is to mold them in pastry, and bake in a flan ring or false-bottomed cake pan, which comes off when the potatoes are done; the pie then stands free on a serving dish. In this excellent recipe, the sliced potatoes are seasoned with melted butter and herbs, and when they are tender inside their crust, a mixture of cream and beaten egg is poured into them through the chimney hole. The
tourte
can well be the main course for a lunch or supper, along with a mixed vegetable salad, possibly some cold meat, and a Riesling, Sylvaner, or rosé wine. Or serve it with steaks, hamburgers, broiled chicken, or fish. Any leftovers may be reheated, but are also good cold.

For a 9-inch pie, 8 to 12 servings

1 tsp soft butter

The mold: a 9-inch flan ring set on a baking sheet, or a round, 9-inch false-bottomed cake pan

Either
½ the recipe for
pâte briseé ordinaire
Formula 1
;

Or
a ready mix

¼ cup (not pressed down) chopped fresh parsley

Either
2 Tb minced fresh green herbs (basil and chives);

Or
1½ Tb minced shallots or scallions and ¼ tsp dried oregano or sage

4 Tb (½ stick) butter melted in a saucepan

6 cups thinly sliced all-purpose potatoes in a bowl of cold water

Salt and pepper

A pastry brush and cup of cold water

A chimney: the metal tube end of a pastry bag or a small metal funnel, buttered

1 egg beaten with 1 tsp water in a 1-cup measure

⅓ cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Butter inside of flan ring and surface of baking sheet, or inside of cake pan. Roll ⅔ of the pastry into a circle 14 inches in diameter (so that you will have a 1½-inch overhang), and line the mold, letting overhang fall around outside rim. Stir the parsley and herbs into the butter. Drain and dry the potatoes and spread ⅓ on the bottom of the lined mold. Stirring butter and herb mixture, pour ⅓ of it over the potatoes and sprinkle potatoes with salt and pepper. Complete filling mold in same manner. Fold overhanging pastry over potatoes, and moisten top of pastry with water. Roll out remaining pastry into a circle 9½ inches in diameter, roll up on pin, and unroll over mold. Roll pin over pastry to trim it the size of the mold, then press it down with the balls of your fingers over the moistened bottom layer to seal. Make a chimney hole in top of pastry and insert funnel. Paint top of pastry with beaten egg, and make cross-hatch marks over pastry with the back of a knife or the tines of a table fork. Blend cream into remainder of beaten egg, and refrigerate for later.

Baking—about 1 hour

Immediately set
tourte
in lower-middle level of preheated 425-degree oven and bake for about 30 minutes, until pastry is nicely but not too deeply browned. Then turn thermostat down to 350 degrees for rest of baking; cover
tourte
loosely with foil or brown paper if it is browning too much. As soon as potatoes are tender when you poke them through the chimney hole,
tourte
is done. By spoonfuls, pour the egg and cream mixture into the pie through the chimney, tilting pie in all directions so that cream will flow all over. Bake another 5 minutes or so to set the mixture, and
tourte
is ready to serve; unmold and slide onto a hot serving dish.

(*)
AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTES
: If
tourte
is done before you are ready to serve, keep it warm, uncovered, in a turned-off oven or 120-degree warming oven. If wait is to be more than 15 minutes, do not add egg and cream until a few minutes before serving, then reheat in a 350-degree oven.

  
POMMES DUCHESSE

[Mashed Potato Mixture for Borders and Other Decorations]

Even hamburgers look dressy in a fluted border of
pommes duchesse,
and fluted mounds of potatoes placed around a meat platter are elegant indeed. Consisting only of mashed potatoes, egg yolks, butter, and cream,
pommes duchesse
is a very simple mixture and perfectly delicious when you use the best ingredients, meaning live potatoes rather than dehydrated ones. Serve
pommes duchesse
anywhere that mashed potatoes would naturally go, such as around a platter that is to hold
boeuf bourguignon
or
coq au vin,
or piped around the creamed eggs or fish that are to be gratinéed, or with steaks, chops, or broiled fish.

TECHNICAL NOTES

You may prepare and form the potatoes in advance, and bake them just before serving; once baked and browned, however, they must be served fairly soon or they will lose their light, freshly cooked quality. We prefer egg yolks to whole eggs in the mixture because we think that egg whites have a drying-out effect, although they do give the potatoes a slight puff. If you like a puff anyway, use 1 egg and 1 yolk for each 2 cups of potatoes rather than the 3 yolks for 2 cups (6 for 4 cups) suggested here.

For 4 cups of mashed potatoes, serving 6 to 8