Lyonnaise Potatoes is a french dish of pan-fried potatoes, that originated around 1845 in the city of Lyon, which is located in a region called Rhone-Alpes in France.   In French, a la lyonnaise means the dish contains onions – think I originally learned how to make this dish watching Julia Child on TV way back when.  A lot of recipes suggest blanching or par-boiling the potatoes in advance of the pan-frying to help expedite the cooking of the potatoes.   I eliminate that step as I think it makes the potatoes too soft or mushy, and I definitely like this dish to be crispy!

Start to flip the potatoes so the top can now get crisp!

Cover the pan to crisp up the potatoes

The potatoes have crisped up nicely after adding a cover to the pan

Ingredients:

6 Yukon Gold potatoes

1 yellow onion, thinly sliced

6 cloves garlic, finely minced

1 cube butter, diced

2 slices bacon

4 Tbl parsley

Salt and Pepper to taste

Olive oil

 

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Peel the onion and cut into thin slices and separate the rings.
3. Finely mince the garlic.
4. Cook the two slices of bacon – remove from pan, and save the bacon drippings. Saute the onion slices in the bacon grease in a cast-iron skillet (any heavy-bottom saute pan will do).  Saute the onions on a low heat for about 10 minutes just until onions are carmelized and a golden brown.   Add the chopped garlic and saute quickly.  Remove mixture from pan when done and set aside.
5. While the onions/garlic are cooking, wash, peel, and slice the potatoes using a mandolin, to keep thickness consistent.   Transfer them to a pot filled with cold water so slices don’t turn brown.  Once all sliced, toss into a colander and then pat dry the slices with a paper towel (otherwise you will get a lot of oil “spitting” when wet slices hit the hot oil.)
6.  Add olive oil to the pan and add your first layer of potato slices – fill the entire bottom of the pan.  Add a sprinkle of salt and pepper, some parsley, some onion/garlic mixture and dot the top with small bits of the butter you have diced – then start another layer of potatoes on top.
7. I build 3 layers of potatoes like this and cook on medium high heat so that I get a good crust on the bottom layer without burning the potatoes.
8. Flip the bottom layer of potatoes and rotate so your top layer is now on the bottom and getting crisp.   I find the easiest way to do this is to flip ¼ of the pan at a time.   Don’t worry if it’s not perfect, as you will be flipping several more times.
9. Continue to form layers of potatoes as in Step #6 alternating with salt/pepper, parsley, onion, and butter, until you have used up all the potatoes or your skillet is full.
10. Flip several more times till you feel majority of the potatoes have a crisp side to them.
11. Cover the pan and cook on the stove for another ten minutes for crisping.
12. It is now ready to put in the oven for another 15 minutes at 400 degrees so you have a dish that is crispy on the outside but still soft on the inside.
13. Once done, add a bit more of the fresh parsley on top and serve immediately.
14. If you are in the mood, serve a small bit of sour cream with the potatoes – Delish!

Yield:  Serves 6-8 depending upon portion size

Related Articles:

http://schnitzelandthetrout.blogspot.com/2010/12/sardalaise-lyonnaise-potatoes.html

http://mark-knowles.hubpages.com/hub/Sauteed-Potatoes-Lyonnaise

Lyonnaisehttp://roguechef.badwolf.cx/?p=5136