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 dominos 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.
