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Potatoes with anchovies
Jun. 10th, 2007 10:30 pmThere's a Swedish dish called Janson's Frestelse that I read about in a cookbook, and it sounded delicious. So I tried to make it, and it was dry, dreary and dull. I tried it again recently, and had the same results. It involves frying potatoes (always a good start), lots of garlic, mushrooms and anchovies. I could see how it should all work, but it wouldn't work for me.
Today I tried an experiment, which was much easier and really delicious. So in the interests of culinary science, here is my recipe for Olson's Frestelse.
~1kg Yukon Gold potatoes
1 medium onion
1, 2oz. tin of anchovy filets in olive oil
Fresh ground black pepper
Butter
Grease a medium-sized (~2L) gratin dish with plenty of butter. Heat the oven to 425°F.
We're going to layer thin slices of potato and onion in the pan, with bits of anchovy and pepper between each layer. I like to use my mandoline slicer to make uniform slices quickly and easily.
Make a thin layer of potatoes on the bottom of the pan, using perhaps a quarter of your potatoes. Scatter a layer of onions (about a quarter of your onions) on top of that. Mash up an anchovy filet between your fingers and scatter the bits all over the onions; maybe do another filet for good measure. Grind on some black pepper. A little more.
Now make a layer of half the potatoes (so you've used up 3/4 of the potato altogether), slice half the onion on that. Put aside two anchovy filets, and mash up the rest of them and scatter them on the onons. Grind on more pepper.
Slice all but one potato onto the dish, then all the rest of the onion. Mash up and distribute the last of the anchovies. More pepper.
Slice on the last potato to cover the whole thing. Pour the oil from the anchovies over the top. If you like, take a couple tablespoons of butter and distribute it over the top of the dish so it will melt down throughout.
Cover the dish tightly with foil, and put it in the oven for 45 minutes.
By this time, the potatoes should be cooked through: check by inserting a table knife in the middle. It should go through without resistance. When it's at that point, take the foil off and turn the heat down to 350°F to brown up the top a little, something like 10-15 minutes.
The result was extremely satisfying. There's enough salt in the anchovies that you don't need to add any, and the anchovies add a rich, complex, meaty flavour that complements the potatoes. This is a recipe I will definitely do again, it was easy, delicious and cheap.
Today I tried an experiment, which was much easier and really delicious. So in the interests of culinary science, here is my recipe for Olson's Frestelse.
~1kg Yukon Gold potatoes
1 medium onion
1, 2oz. tin of anchovy filets in olive oil
Fresh ground black pepper
Butter
Grease a medium-sized (~2L) gratin dish with plenty of butter. Heat the oven to 425°F.
We're going to layer thin slices of potato and onion in the pan, with bits of anchovy and pepper between each layer. I like to use my mandoline slicer to make uniform slices quickly and easily.
Make a thin layer of potatoes on the bottom of the pan, using perhaps a quarter of your potatoes. Scatter a layer of onions (about a quarter of your onions) on top of that. Mash up an anchovy filet between your fingers and scatter the bits all over the onions; maybe do another filet for good measure. Grind on some black pepper. A little more.
Now make a layer of half the potatoes (so you've used up 3/4 of the potato altogether), slice half the onion on that. Put aside two anchovy filets, and mash up the rest of them and scatter them on the onons. Grind on more pepper.
Slice all but one potato onto the dish, then all the rest of the onion. Mash up and distribute the last of the anchovies. More pepper.
Slice on the last potato to cover the whole thing. Pour the oil from the anchovies over the top. If you like, take a couple tablespoons of butter and distribute it over the top of the dish so it will melt down throughout.
Cover the dish tightly with foil, and put it in the oven for 45 minutes.
By this time, the potatoes should be cooked through: check by inserting a table knife in the middle. It should go through without resistance. When it's at that point, take the foil off and turn the heat down to 350°F to brown up the top a little, something like 10-15 minutes.
The result was extremely satisfying. There's enough salt in the anchovies that you don't need to add any, and the anchovies add a rich, complex, meaty flavour that complements the potatoes. This is a recipe I will definitely do again, it was easy, delicious and cheap.
