I adapted this from a recipe by Jeremy Lee of the Blueprint Café. It’s rather like pommes Anna, only made with duck fat instead of butter. OK, neither of them is very good for you, but it’s not something you’re going to eat every day! Serve with a simple roast; we had it with the pot-roasted pork I posted a couple of days ago. It is crispy on the outside and melting in the middle — lovely!
Really it should be turned out, but a galette made with enough potatoes for 9 people was so large and so dense I just served it straight from the dish, using a slotted spoon so it wasn’t swimming in fat. If yours is smaller, do turn it out.
1 kg potatoes
150 g goose or duck fat
3 cloves garlic
leaves from a sprig of rosemary
Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Peel the potatoes and slice thinly (my food processor had one of its rare outings for this). Put them in a colander and wash till the water runs clear. You can do this in advance and then leave the potatoes in a large bowl, covered with water so they don’t go brown. When ready to cook, drain throughly in the colander — you want the potatoes as dry as possible. Return them to the bowl.
Warm the fat in a pan just enough so that it becomes liquid, adding the rosemary leaves and chopped garlic. Pour the fat over the potatoes and mix thoroughly (your hands are good for this). Theoretically you should then arrange them in neat concentric circles in an ovenproof, flameproof dish. Life’s too short for this unless you are really trying to impress people. I just tipped them into the dish and squished them down. Pour over any remaining fat and put in the oven for an hour — no attention needed.
Remove the dish and press the potatoes down to compact them. Return to the oven for 10 minutes. Test the potatoes for done-ness, and if you are going to turn it out, carefully lift the edge with a slice or palette knife to see if the bottom is nice and brown. If not, put the dish on the hob and cook for a few minutes to crisp it up before transferring to a serving plate. Otherwise, just serve in the dish.