- Hi, guys, welcome back to my channel. So, today, I'm gonna show you how to make this beautiful French side
dish called Potatoes Anna. I love this recipe,
because there's not a lot that goes into it, and it is
so delicious, and fun to make. It might look super fancy and complicated, but it's actually a cinch to put together. Let me show you how to make it. And if you would like to
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else to follow, follow me. So, the first thing you wanna
do is get out three to four Russet potatoes, depending
on how big your Russets are. So, these are pretty big, I probably can get away with
three, but we'll find out. There are a lot of recipes
out there for Potatoes Anna, and about half of them will use Russets, and about the other half
will use a waxy potato, like a Yukon Gold. I have tried it both ways, and I am here to tell you the
Russets are the way to go, because they are so starchy,
they stick together, so when we're creating our
little escargot pattern with all of the potato layers, and then you flip it over,
which is how you serve it, it will stay together, so I highly recommend the
Russets and not washing them, because we don't wanna get
rid of all that starch, we wanna keep it, so it will help the potatoes stick together. So, the first thing you wanna do is get your garlic butter going, so I have four tablespoons of
just regular salted butter. I like to use the salted
here in the states, because I think it has more flavor, but if you're outside the states, I would probably use unsalted, and then you can get that
on a medium-high flame, and then, to that, you also
wanna add two garlic cloves. There we go. So, basically we are gonna
brush this garlic butter in between all the layers
of the thin potatoes, (chuckles softly) which
is really delicious, because it bakes that way, and gives all those
potatoes a delicious flavor, as well as browning them
when you flip it over. Then, you also wanna get
yourself a pastry brush. You know, if you have a choice between a bigger or a smaller,
I would use the bigger one, because you're just gonna be
able to cover more surface. It'll go quicker that way. Then, the next thing you wanna do is peel your potatoes. The potatoes are gonna be
a lot more tasty and crispy without the skins. (light music) Okay, there, (chuckles softly) done. Now, the secret to this dish is getting very thinly sliced potatoes. You want about 1/16th of an inch, which is a very thin slice, but that's gonna help the
potatoes become like a pancake, and get very tender very
quickly in the oven. So, you could do it like this, get yourself a very sharp knife, and you just have to really watch it, see, and make sure that you are
only going 1/16th of an inch, (light music continues) almost like, you know,
the size of a potato chip, or (chuckles) you can use a mandolin. Ta-da. Now, for years, I was
terrified of these things until I found a really good one. This one, you guys have asked me about, I use it all the time,
it's by a brand called OXO, and what I love about
it is it's super sturdy, which is tip number one
when using a mandolin. It also has a variety of settings
that you can choose from, so you can get right to that 1/16th. (mandolin clicking) There we go. And I don't know if you've had experience with the OXO products in the past, but the reason they are
so sturdy is because they were developed by
somebody who had arthritis, which I find to be fascinating. So, all of their products have
really good grips to them, and that's definitely something
you want with a mandolin. So, it helps to have the
potatoes cut already, so that they're sturdy for slicing, and then definitely used
the little safety hat. I one time did not use it
and was cutting a cucumber, talking to someone at the table, you don't wanna know what
happened, (chuckles softly) and that was the most powerful lesson to always have a little hat on, so, and when you press on the safety hat, you'll see there are these little prongs, and they are going to stick right into the potato to stabilize it. All right, here we go. (mandolin clicks)
There, once it's in, you're good to go. (light music continues)
(mandolin clicking) Ta-da, beautifully sliced, even potatoes. I'll leave you a link in the description if you wanna know where to get this. I don't like to slice all
the potatoes in one go, I like to slice them as I use them, just so that they don't end
up catching a lot of water and moisture and turning brown. So, we're just gonna start
with this little pile first. Now, we're gonna fill our pan. So, I have a 10-inch
non-stick skillet here, and this, I think, is the perfect size. If you go any bigger, it gets a little difficult
to then flip it over, because, remember, we're gonna
reverse this once it's baked, and that just gets to be
a little bit challenging, so I'd stick with a 10-inch. Then, we are gonna brush the bottom of it with our melted butter, just a thin layer, because this is gonna be the
top of our Potatoes Anna, and we wanna make sure
it's nice and golden brown. Then, for the potatoes, so pick the prettiest potato you have, the one that's, like, a really good size and nice and round, that
is gonna go in the center, because when we flip it over,
that is going to be the potato that we're gonna see on the top, and you wanna layer the potatoes
one on top of each other, and just go all the way around the pan. (light music continues) There, okay, now that
we have our first layer, we're going to add a little
bit more melted garlic butter. You can just dab it on there, because you don't want
to disturb your pattern, because that will just make all of the potatoes
slide around. (chuckles) So, we wanna keep our
nice escargot pattern, and then just put them back into position if they slid around a bit. There we go, okay. Now, then, you're just going
to add a little bit of salt to taste and some freshly cracked pepper. (pepper cracking) And then, this isn't really traditional, but I do like to add a
little bit of fresh thyme, because I think it just
adds one more flavor to the salt and pepper of the potato. You could also use rosemary, too. I would just mince it really finely, because if the herbs are too big, it could have a tendency
of making those potatoes not stick as well. There, okay, here's our
first beautiful layer, and then you just wanna
repeat the process, placing in another layer of potatoes, and then I just follow the same pattern, starting in the center and
working our way out to the sides. (light music continues) And then, it gets another layer of butter. I know, you know the French,
they do love their butter, and then another layer of salt and pepper, (pepper cracking) and a little more thyme. This is a great project
for a Sunday night dinner or weekend, when you're
trying to impress somebody. I wouldn't probably attempt
this on a busy weeknight, although, it's not hard, it's
just a little time consuming, but the results are so worth
the effort, it's so delicious. So, you just continue with that pattern until all your potatoes are used up, or until your pan is halfway
filled, whichever comes first. (light music continues) Now, a lot of recipes
will say to start this on your cooktop, start to
get the browning going, but I find it's really hard to control the heat of the cooktop, so you never know if it's
going to be overly-brown or if it's gonna be undercooked, so I say just go at a
higher temperature oven, 450 degrees Fahrenheit,
for just 30 minutes, and your bottom layer will
be evenly golden brown. Okay, in the oven it goes. And then, when it comes outta the oven, it'll look like this, and your potatoes should
be nice and knife-tender. You should be able to
stick a knife in them and not feel any firmness, and then the potatoes
will also start to curl and become golden brown. You do wanna just let it sit here for about five minutes, just to set up, because it will be a lot less fragile when you go to flip it, and then before you flip it,
just go ahead and loosen it a little bit around
the edges with a knife. You can flip it onto a plate, but I like to flip it
onto a cutting board, because that way I can
slice it into wedges right on the board. All right, here we go. It also helps to give it
a little bit of a shake and then give it a flip. (skillet clanks) And ta-da. (chuckles) Doesn't that look yummy? Then, for the finishing touch, I do like to add a little bit of Fleur de Sel sea salt on top. I just think it looks pretty, and it gives you a nice
little crunch of the salt, and then you can also add
some freshly cracked pepper, (pepper cracking) and a few more sprigs of thyme. (light music continues) There you have it. You can slice it into
wedges, much like a pizza. Serve everybody a piece, and it goes great with
roast chicken, grilled fish, or anytime you need a potato side dish. All right, you guys, I hope
you give this one a try, and let me know what you think and I'll see you back here next time. Until then, bye.
