Our New Favorite Potato

We are Irish and naturally eat a heck of a lot of potatoes. Our usual preparations of rosemary roasted or garlic mashed are excellent, but finally found a new potato plate that serves as a more refined and presentation friendly side dish. Although this dish looks like it takes a lot of effort, it's manageable and will likely be different than any potato dish you've had before. Potato pavé is buttery, crisp, and slightly herby from the garlic and thyme. The majority of the work needs to be done a day in advance, so we'd recommend making this for a group with a heavy meat entree.

Potato Pavé
Recipe from Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home
Serves 4 (two squares per person)


Ingredients
2 pounds russet potatoes
1 cup heavy cream
5 tablespoons butter, cut into 1/4" cubes
Salt and pepper
Canola oil
2 cloves garlic, lightly crushed
2 sprigs thyme
Minced chives


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Wash potatoes and peel skin. Mix heavy cream, salt, and pepper and set aside in a large bowl. Set up your mandoline on the thinnest setting or slice your potatoes with a knife 1/8" thick lengthwise. Lay sliced potatoes in the heavy cream mixture, ensuring all sides are coated.

2. Line a baking dish with high sides with 2 pieces of parchment paper, one laying horizontal and the other lay vertical. Leave "wings" on each side of the dish, so that you may use these to later to remove the potatoes.

3. Cover dish with two layers of sliced potatoes and top with bits of butter, salt, and pepper. Repeat layers with remaining potato slices, butter, salt and pepper.

4. Bake in oven for 1 hour 50 minutes. Remove from oven and cover potatoes with a weight of some sort (I used books). Allow the potato dish to sit in the refrigerator overnight.

5. Dinner time: Remove potatoes from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Slice potatoes into equal size rectangles (I was able to cut 8 equal pieces with this size dish). Heat canola oil over medium heat in a nonstick pan. Add minced garlic and sprigs of time. Heat potatoes on each cut side (where you can see layers), approximately 2 minutes per side (note: be sure not to burn your garlic). After all sides of the potato pavé are golden brown, remove from pan and serve as a side dish with chopped chives and a little extra butter.