I confess to have plucked this recipe from the pages of a magazine and inserted it into my dinner party menu solely based on its looks (the magazine image looked prettier than mine, as you might imagine). Had I stopped to consider that it had exactly one herb seasoning it, and four ingredients total, including the potatoes themselves, I might have passed it over for being to simple for a special meal. My shallowness pays off again! I loved these. I want them now.
The (slight) pains you take to shave the potatoes into dominoes and stack them accordingly, gives you a soft scalloped-potato-like texture where they overlap and a crispy, shattered edge too–the little burnt edges are actually awesome. I’ve never used so many bay leaves in my life. It just works.
(See how this recipe fits into an indulgent deep-winter dinner party menu.)
Roasted Domino Potatoes
(Via Bon Appetit)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, divided
3 1/2 pounds Idaho potatoes (4-6 large)
24 (about) fresh or dried bay leaves
Kosher salt and fleur de sel
Preheat oven to 425°. Brush a 13x9x2″ baking dish or cast-iron griddle with 2 Tbsp. butter. Peel potatoes and trim ends (do not rinse). Trim all 4 sides of potatoes to form a rectangle. Using a mandoline, cut potatoes crosswise into 1/8″ slices, keeping slices in stacks as best you can.
Re-form slices from each potato into a stack. Place in prepared dish, fanning apart slightly like a deck of cards. Insert bay leaves between potato slices at even intervals. Season with salt and drizzle with remaining 4 Tbsp. butter.
Bake potatoes, rotating the dish halfway through cooking, until the edges are crisp and golden and the centers are tender, about 1 hour. Sprinkle with fleur de sel.
Makes 8 side servings.