Pommes Lyonnaise sounds so posh. Betty Keira mentioned it in her review of A Gentle Awakening. It was one of the things she wanted me to try. Turns out, I've been making it for years, I just didn't know it. Soon after I started looking up recipes for Pommes Lyonnaise, I came to the startling conclusion that they are pretty much just fried potatoes and onions. Yeah. You've been making them too? Now you can sound all fancy about it.
(I followed the recipe from Ochef.com.)
From French Provincial Cooking (Canada, UK), by Elizabeth David.
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 1/4-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.
(*I cut the potatoes into thirds and boiled them for about 10 minutes)
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 1/4-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.
(*I cut the potatoes into thirds and boiled them for about 10 minutes)
Verdict:
Fifteen year old picky eater (on wandering into the kitchen while it was cooking), "this smells like something I would eat." Really, I can't ask for more than that. That said, the onions were left off his. I liked the flavor - but instead of pretty caramelized onion slices I think I would have preferred diced onions - easier to eat. We ate this as a side dish to grilled hamburgers (or "beef burgers", as Betty would have called them). The extra caramelized onion slices were quite yummy on the burgers.
Fifteen year old picky eater (on wandering into the kitchen while it was cooking), "this smells like something I would eat." Really, I can't ask for more than that. That said, the onions were left off his. I liked the flavor - but instead of pretty caramelized onion slices I think I would have preferred diced onions - easier to eat. We ate this as a side dish to grilled hamburgers (or "beef burgers", as Betty would have called them). The extra caramelized onion slices were quite yummy on the burgers.
I have made this very recipe (love Elizabeth David). Always with butter - I can't get enthused about beef dripping
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm a butter girl myself. Beef drippings are fine for some things - but not for frying potatoes.
ReplyDeleteDisagree. I love me some beef drippings... ;0)
ReplyDeleteUh oh, I think I'm partial to "unevenly browned potatoes and frizzled onions."
ReplyDeleteAs am I. I don't get the boiling it first thing.
ReplyDeleteGreat way for using up leftover potatoes.
ReplyDelete