Richard Whittington, Alastair Little

Potato Cake Chez L’Ami Louis

Preparation info

  • Difficulty

    Easy

  • Serves

    6

Appears in

The Daily Mail Modern British Cookbook

The Daily Mail Modern British Cookbook

By Alastair Little and Richard Whittington

Published 1998

The late Antoine Magnin became identified with this potato cake, served daily at L’Ami Louis, his Paris restaurant. It owes its flavour to goose or duck fat, in which sliced potatoes are first fried then baked until crusty on the outside and moist and succulent within. As a cooking medium you can use goose fat, beef dripping, or a mixture of dripping and olive oil, or good-quality lard and olive oil in equal proportions. Serve the potato cake with any roast meat.

Ingredients

  • 900 g / 2 lb potatoes, peeled and sliced
  • fat of choice, for frying
  • 4-6 tbsp melted butter
  • salt and pepper
  • 2 garlic cloves, chopped
  • handful of flat-leaved parsley

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/ gas 6. Fry the potatoes in a heavy pan with the fat of choice over a medium heat, tossing and shaking until they are just starting to brown. This takes about 20 minutes.

Brush a 23-cm / 9-inch pan with butter, then season the partially cooked potatoes with salt and pepper and transfer them to the pan, pressing down gently with a spatula. Brush the top with more melted butter and put to bake in the preheated oven for 20–30 minutes, until the surface is golden brown.

Mix the garlic and parsley. Unmould the cake by placing a plate upside down on top of the pan then inverting them together. Strew the garlic and parsley mixture over the top and serve piping hot.

© 1998 Alastair Little and Richard Whittington estate. All rights reserved.

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