French Provincial Cooking - Elizabeth David [157]
Some French cooks like to use stock or broth instead of milk when making their purée, which certainly makes it a little lighter, although it then loses its creamy whiteness.
Ideally, potato purée should be served as soon as it is ready, but for the best method of keeping it hot see the following recipe.
POMMES MOUSSELINE FAÇON PROVENÇALE
POTATO PURÉE WITH MEAT JUICE
A purée, made as above, is put in a hot dish, some of the juices from a garlic and herb-flavoured roast of pork or veal is poured round the purée, and it is served first, as a separate course, before the meat. Sometimes the hot potato purée will be followed by the meat served cold. We should probably prefer the potatoes and meat together. So if the purée has to be kept hot, put it in a saucepan in a bain-marie and pour a little melted butter over and round the potatoes to prevent a crust forming, and cover the saucepan. When the time comes to serve them, mix the butter in with them before pouring in the meat juice.
POMMES DE TERRE DAUPHINE
This is one of the very nicest ways of serving potatoes to go with a steak, or a roast bird, but their final cooking in hot oil or fat is a last-minute operation, so they are better not attempted when the cook’s attention is likely to be distracted elsewhere.
Cook 4 medium-sized potatoes (about lb.) until they are quite soft; drain them very well and put them through a sieve. In a thick saucepan melt 1 oz. of butter and pour on it half a tumbler of water; let this boil a minute or two and then add, through a sieve, 1 oz. of flour; stir it very rapidly until it thickens; now lower the flame and go on stirring until you have a smooth mixture, which should be in 2 or 3 minutes. Next, add, off the fire, and slowly, 2 beaten eggs, stirring all the time, and when they have amalgamated with the flour mixture, start stirring in the potato purée, a little at a time. When the mixture is perfectly smooth and thick, season it with salt, pepper, a scraping of nutmeg and a tablespoon of grated cheese. This preparation can be made beforehand.
When the time comes to cook the potatoes, heat a deep panful of olive oil or pure beef dripping and, when it is very hot, but not absolutely boiling, drop in small spoonfuls of the mixture, cooking about half a dozen at a time, and leaving room for them to swell. They should be about the size of large walnuts. Turn them over very gently once with a palette knife; as soon as they are golden, lift them out with a perforated spoon on to a piece of kitchen paper. When they are all cooked, pile them up in a hot dish and serve at once. Enough for four.
POMMES DE TERRE SAUTÉES À LA LYONNAISE
SAUTÉ POTATOES WITH ONIONS
This is a well-known dish, but so seldom properly cooked that it may be worth while giving the correct recipe.
Firm potatoes, boiled in their skins, are peeled and sliced about inch thick and seasoned with salt. They are gently fried in a capacious heavy frying-pan until they are golden brown on both sides. When they are all but ready, some onion, sliced very thin and fried until pale gold in a separate frying-pan, is mixed in with the potatoes, and the dish is ready to serve.
It bears little resemblance, as can be seen, to the greasy mixture of unevenly browned potatoes and frizzled onions which usually passes for pommes lyonnaises.
Proportions are 1 medium-sized onion to each pound of potatoes and, for cooking each vegetable, 1 oz. of butter or pure beef dripping.
The potatoes take about 15 minutes to cook, the onions up to 10 minutes.
POMMES DE TERRE À L’ARDENNAISE
POTATOES WITH JUNIPER BERRIES
This is a curious recipe but extremely good if you like the pungent flavour of juniper berries.
Peel a pound or so of potatoes and shred them as fine as matches, on the fluted blade of the mandoline, or alternatively on a coarse grater. Put them in a sieve or colander and rinse them thoroughly under running cold water to get rid of the starch. Shake them dry in a cloth. Heat a couple of ounces of butter