Idaho potatoes—or boiling potatoes, as they’re sometimes called—tend to be pretty boring on their own.
Yet, when given just a little care and extra attention, you can easily transform a cheap, drab potato into an impressive, delicious side dish.
This recipe requires some special hardware: a mandolin and a cast iron skillet. I bought my mini mandolin slicer at a kitchen hardware store for $12, and a small cast iron pan for around $25. Both of these tools are really worth the investment and will last you a long time (especially the cast iron pan. The older they get, the better.) The recipe couldn’t be easier. It has four ingredients: potatoes, salt, butter and Parmesan cheese. This dish really is all about the preparation.
Potato Cake – Serves 4
3 Idaho Potatoes
1 tablespoon of salt
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
1) First, melt the stick of butter on the stove over low heat. Once the butter is melted, let it sit until it cools. Then, skim off the white specs that have floated to the surface with a spoon.
The white parts are the milk solids in the butter, which have a low burning point. Since we are going to be cooking our potatoes on the stove for awhile, we don’t want the butter to burn. Removing the milk solids leaves you with shiny, golden butter that takes much, much longer to burn. This is often called clarified butter.
Once you have made your clarified butter, put enough on the bottom of your cast iron pan to coat the bottom.
2) Next, slice the potatoes. Since we are cutting the potatoes about 1/4 inch thick with the mandolin, it is unnecessary to peel them. Just make sure before you peel the potatoes, you run them under cold water and scrub them with a kitchen brush.
After they are sliced, you are ready to assemble your potato cake.
3) Starting from the middle of your pan, fan out your potato slices clockwise until you have covered the bottom. Then, lightly brush this layer with butter, sprinkle with salt and 1 tablespoon of Parmesan cheese. Then, placing your next slice where your first layer ended, build your next layer counter-clockwise towards the center, dabbing with butter, and lightly applying Parmesan cheese and salt. Keep building the layers until you have reached the top (I was able to make about six layers). Squish down the last layer with your clean hands to compact it. Don’t put cheese on top of the last layer (yet).
4) Cook the potato cake on medium heat for about 10 minutes. Once the butter starts bubbling up the sides, sprinkle the top layer with the remaining cheese and cook in the oven for about 15-20 minutes, or until the top is golden brown. You can slice your potato cake right in the pan, or you can invert it onto a dish and serve.
You won’t miss the typical mashed potatoes after you’ve eaten this.
