These dominoes have no spots.
My first attempt I fanned out the potato dominoes and I used sweet and white potatoes.
Recently I was looking at a blog that I subscribe to (www.food52.com) and saw a recipe for Francis Mallmann’s Potato Dominos. Such a cute presentation and I knew I wanted to try something different with the recipe; maybe layering sweet potatoes and russet potatoes together for beautiful fanned out potatoes. Throw in some fresh rosemary and a bay leaf here and there and you have a new potato dish.
I don’t always change a recipe; normally I do make it as directed the first time out but for some reason this time I wanted to change it up a bit. If you Google Francis Mallmann you will find that he is one of the most famous chefs in South America and a leading expert on cooking with fire. Here’s a really good article on the chef that you may find an interesting read. His potato dominoes recipe is in his book “Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way”.
You may think this recipe is a total waste of potatoes but look at the end results! And you can always refrigerate the scraps of potatoes in a bowl of water and either cook and mash, throw in the oven to roast or put in a pot of stew. I have a mandoline so I opted for slicing these potatoes with it rather than by hand. If you don’t have a mandolin then just use your knife skills to slice the potatoes into about 1/8″ or less slices. You don’t put these potatoes in water as you slice them because the starch in the potatoes will help keep them stuck together and they won’t be sliding all over the place.
If you do an Internet search you will find several ways people have baked off this recipe. One used an iron griddle pan, another put out on Silpat on cookie sheet and another person stood the potatoes up in a dish in a circular presentation. I opted to do mine the first time on a iron griddle pan. Then I did them the second time only using white potatoes and
I stood them up then tilted them over like they had fallen like dominoes. I like this way the best.
Potatoes and herbs. You can do this with both sweet potatoes and white potatoes or just choose your favorite.
Cut sides and ends off to make a rectangle of potato.
Clarified butter and potatoes ready to be sliced.
Slice potatoes 1/8″ thick.
I stacked the potatoes alternately white/sweet, dotted with some clarified butter (also did a little duck fat on a few), sprinkled with chopped rosemary and added a few fresh bay leaves here and there. (See note below on mixing potatoes.)
Pop in oven and cook until brown and a little crispy.
This was my second attempt and I think I like the standing up (falling over) dominoes the best.
Potato Dominoes
Ingredients
- 2 white potatoes about same size for both potatoes
- 2 sweet potatoes
- clarified butter
- fresh rosemary
- fresh bay leaves optional
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°.
- Line a rimmed baking sheet with a Silpat, use a nonstick baking sheet or a medium-sized baking dish. ( I used an iron skillet as I had seen in one of the blogs.)
- To make clarified butter put one stick butter in saucepan and slowly heat. As it heats the milk solids will rise to the top. Use a spoon and skim this off and discard. The milk fats in butter is what causes it to burn so quickly when cooking.
- Slice sides off potatoes to make rectangled shaped potatoes. Cut sweet Potatoes and white potatoes into same size logs. Using a mandoline or very good knife skills, cut potatoes into 1/8" slices. Then cut them in half again or leave in long strips. Hold the stack of potato slices in the palm of one hand and use the other to shape them back into a brick, as you would a deck of cards. Some recipes I saw on line stacked them up in a pan to bake. I put about 6 potato slices to a stack.
- Dot the potatoes with some of the clarified butter. I also tried using some duck fat on some of the stacks. Sprinkle with chopped rosemary and insert a few bay leaves here and there. Give a good sprinkle with salt and pepper. Potatoes fan them out like fallen dominoes Top with clarified butter (clarified butter will not burn)
- Bake for 30-40 minutes in oven until browned on edges and the tender is middle when tested with pick. Serve immediately.
Recipe Notes
Note: I always notice that sweet potatoes cook more quickly than white potatoes. If I do the two types of potatoes again I would keep the sweet potatoes together and separate from the white potatoes. I also tried making them more stacked in pan. See picture below.
1 Comment
Olivia @ Liv Lives Life
April 3, 2013 at 11:51 amThese are just adorable! Thanks for sharing!