1
- 11 months ago
If you like fondant potatoes, then you're going to love this recipe! In this video, Chef John shows you how to make country club potatoes, a creamy and savory potato side dish topped with buttery panko crumbs and melty cheese. Diced russet potatoes are roasted with chicken broth until they’re spectacularly tender and then back in the oven with a milk-cream mixture mixed in, shredded Irish cheddar, and buttered bread crumbs on top. Garnish with sliced green onions and enjoy!
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hello, this is Chef John from Foodwishes.com with Country Club Potatoes.
00:08That's right, I'm going to show you one of my favorite special occasion potato side dishes,
00:13which no, I did not learn at a country club.
00:16It was actually at a hotel, and not even a fancy one.
00:19But I love the name, and I love the recipe, and I'm very excited to be sharing it with you.
00:24And to get started, we're going to cut up some peeled russet potatoes in a very specific way,
00:31which involves first cutting them in half, which I like to do through the narrow side,
00:35which is going to produce the widest, flattest halves possible.
00:39And then what we'll do is cut each half in thirds.
00:42And once that's been accomplished, we will simply turn the halves,
00:45and then make some nice thick slices across.
00:48And I would say like 3 eighths of an inch thickness is perfect,
00:51but a little bit thinner or a little bit thicker would be fine.
00:56Okay, we're not machines, yet.
00:59So there's no way we're going to get them all perfectly uniform.
01:02But we're still going to do our best to try.
01:05And we'll be careful not to double cut,
01:07which is why every so often you want to push the cut ones away,
01:10so you're not cutting through them again.
01:12And when we get to the ends where it tapers,
01:15you might want to do those pieces one at a time.
01:18But anyway, I went ahead and did that to six very large russet potatoes.
01:22And once cut, we'll transfer those into a nice big bowl of cold fresh water,
01:26which of course will prevent them from discoloring,
01:29but it also helps wash off some of the starch from the surface.
01:33And if you wanted, you could let those sit and soak for a few minutes
01:36while you grab the rest of the ingredients.
01:38But either way, we'll go ahead and drain those and rinse them thoroughly
01:41before we transfer those into our casserole dish.
01:45And please make sure you drain those really, really thoroughly.
01:48All right, a few drops of moisture is okay,
01:50but we don't want to be adding a ton of water at this point.
01:53And once those have been transferred in and spread out and settled down,
01:58we'll go ahead and season these up with a generous amount of kosher salt,
02:02a few shakes of cayenne, plus a little touch of white pepper,
02:06since that's what the chef at the hotel used,
02:08so you wouldn't see any black specks.
02:11Not that that would really matter.
02:13So feel free to use black pepper if you want.
02:16And then to this, we're going to add some chicken broth.
02:18And as you can see from that beautiful dark color,
02:20this one was made with roasted chicken,
02:22but any chicken broth or stock will work,
02:25as would a vegetable stock.
02:27And then before this goes in the oven,
02:29let's take a spoon and give everything a quick toss
02:32so that our seasoning is mixed in evenly
02:35and every piece of potato has been moistened with that broth.
02:38And once that's done, we'll settle everything down again
02:41and sort of press everything into a nice even layer,
02:45at which point this is ready to transfer into the upper center
02:47of a 400 degree oven for about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes,
02:53or until our potatoes are just barely tender.
02:55And while we're waiting for that,
02:58we can take care of a couple other components,
03:00the first of which would be our breadcrumb topping,
03:03which is simply some panko breadcrumbs
03:05mixed with a couple tablespoons of melted butter.
03:08And we'll stir that until every crumb is coated
03:10and the mixture looks like wet sand.
03:14And once mixed, we'll go ahead and set that aside
03:17and we'll mix up our dairy component,
03:19which is going to be some heavy cream,
03:21to which we will add some regular whole milk.
03:24And we'll give that a stir and reserve that until needed.
03:28And if it's going to be a while, go ahead and pop that in the fridge.
03:31And that's it.
03:32After about an hour, we will check our potatoes,
03:35which are probably going to look something like this.
03:38And we will check these for doneness with the tip of a knife,
03:41which should slide in without too much effort.
03:44And if our potatoes are tender and these were,
03:46we will take a spoon and give this a mix,
03:49at which point we can grab our cream and milk mixture
03:52and we'll go ahead and pour that in.
03:55And then we'll give this another mix
03:57until that's nice and evenly distributed.
03:59And if you're wondering,
04:01couldn't we have just dumped that in and mixed once?
04:04Well, yes, we could have.
04:06And why didn't I do that?
04:07I don't know.
04:09All right, sometimes I just stir things without thinking.
04:12But anyway, once that cream and milk has been mixed in,
04:15we will go ahead and top this with a grated cheese of our choice,
04:18which for me this time was a beautiful Irish cheddar.
04:22But as usual, you go ahead and use whatever you want.
04:25I mean, you are after all the Carl Spackler
04:27of choosing a cheese you think would be the most spectacular.
04:31But no matter what you use,
04:33once that's been spread over,
04:35we'll go ahead and top this with our buttered breadcrumbs,
04:38which this time we are not going to press or poke down into the surface.
04:42All right, we're just going to gently spread those over the top.
04:45And once that cheese has been crumbed,
04:48we will pop that back into the oven,
04:50which we've turned up to 450,
04:52and we'll let that bake for another 20 minutes or so,
04:56or until the top's a beautiful golden brown,
04:58and it looks like this.
05:01Oh yeah, when I see a crust on a casserole that beautiful,
05:04I do not care what's under it.
05:06I want to eat it.
05:07But we really do want to let this rest at least 15 minutes before we try to serve it,
05:12during which time we can take a barely damp paper towel
05:16and go ahead and clean up the edges of the pan,
05:19which is totally optional,
05:21but I think it looks better and possibly more professional if we do it.
05:25And that's it.
05:26After we let it rest,
05:27we can finish this up by garnishing with some freshly sliced green onions.
05:31And that's it.
05:32Our country club potatoes are ready to enjoy.
05:35So I took a few contractually obligated pictures
05:38before I grabbed a spoon and served up.
05:41And if everything goes according to plan,
05:43our perfectly tender potatoes will have absorbed all that liquid,
05:48which I think produces a very beautiful, luxurious texture.
05:51And we'll go ahead and serve that up with another pinch of green onion,
05:55which besides looking nice,
05:57it's going to make this taste even better.
05:59And that, my friends,
06:01just might be the most delicious potato gratin
06:04or potato casserole you've ever had.
06:07Right, by roasting those potatoes in the broth first,
06:10before we finish up with the cream and the cheese and the crumbs,
06:13we're adding extra flavor and richness
06:15that you are just not going to get
06:17if you cook this in cream or milk alone.
06:20In fact, you fans of fondant potatoes,
06:22where a similar technique is used,
06:24are going to absolutely love this.
06:27And the other thing I love about this recipe,
06:29is that most potato gratins and casseroles
06:31are done with thinly sliced potatoes.
06:33And while there doesn't seem like there'd be a big difference
06:35cutting them like we did here,
06:37there really is.
06:39And the mouthfeel really is quite different
06:41than your standard scallop potato,
06:43or potato al gratin.
06:45And while I'm honestly not sure
06:46why these are called country club potatoes,
06:48I think the name is kind of catchy,
06:50and somehow seems to fit.
06:52And if you're looking for a new,
06:54exciting, special occasion potato side dish,
06:57I cannot think of a better choice.
06:59Which is why I really do hope
07:01you give this a try soon.
07:03So please follow the links below
07:04for the ingredient amounts,
07:06a printable written recipe,
07:08and much more info as usual.
07:09And as always, enjoy.
07:14And as always, enjoy.
07:15And as always, enjoy.
07:16And as always, enjoy.
07:16And as always, enjoy.
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07:25And as always, enjoy.
07:26And as always, enjoy.
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07:28And as always, enjoy.
07:29And as always, enjoy.
07:30And as always, enjoy.
07:31And as always, enjoy.
07:32And as always, enjoy.
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07:34And as always, enjoy.
07:35And as always, enjoy.
07:36And as always, enjoy.
07:37And as always, enjoy.
07:38And as always, enjoy.
07:39And as always, enjoy.