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Potatoes à la Lyonnaise

Clare
lyonnaise potatoes

“Yes, suffering is a natural part of our earthly existence, and everything we love is fragile, but potatoes make all this tolerable.”

Grace Dent, Comfort Eating

The Chief Taster is not really a fan of potatoes, but this way of cooking gets his vote – “you can cook these again any time” was his encouraging comment.

You can make this very successfully with all kinds of potatoes, the all-purpose smooth Desirée works fine, as does the slightly starchier Maris Piper. But best of all I find are small, waxy new potatoes which have an additional advantage in that you don’t need to peel them.

In the recipe below I just give the very basic ingredients outlined in my Larousse Gastronomique. But if you want to be a bit fancy you can add thyme and garlic.

Many people get Lyonnaise potatoes confused with Dauphinois potatoes. The key ingredient in the Lyonnaise version is the onion – absent in Dauphinois which, on the other hand, does include cream. The term “À la Lyonnaise” means that somewhere there is an onion about.

Follow this link for how to make Dauphinois potatoes.

Potatoes à la Lyonnaise

If you don’t have a frying pan with a removable handle you can cover the handle with a double layer of wet paper towel and then a double of layer of foil – this will help for short periods such as ten minutes. But the removable handle type of pan is so useful, I would recommend getting one.

Serves – 4

Ingredients

  • 450g/1 lb potatoes – this is going to be 2-3 medium potatoes, or, ideally use new potatoes
  • 75g/3 oz butter
  • 1 onion
  • Salt and pepper
  • Small bunch of parsley

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
  2. Boil a kettle.
  3. Peel the potatoes if they are not new, and slice into 1 cm/½” slices. If they are new slice them, but slice them more thinly.
  4. Add the boiling water to a saucepan, salt liberally and add the potato. Par-boil, for about ten minutes – until just starting to turn soft. Drain.
  5. Meanwhile peel and thinly slice the onion.
  6. In a large frying pan – the type that you can take off the handle and put in the oven – add a walnut or two of butter, add the onion and fry gently until it starts to turn translucent. Then add the parboiled potatoes and continue to fry, adding bit by bit most of the butter. Season. Fry the potatoes and onion gently together for about five minutes.
  7. Then take the handle off the frying pan and bake for about ten minutes.
  8. Snip over the parsley, dot over the remainder of the butter, and serve.
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