Potato Risotto
Last night I made and fell in love with potato “risotto,” a side dish found in this month’s Bon Appétit magazine. It requires a bit of knife work to get a uniform brunoise out of the potatoes, but the contrast of textures and flavor are both well worth the effort.
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 cup finely diced onion
- 1 lb yukon gold potatoes brunoised
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
- pinch of kosher salt
- 1 1/2-2 cups chicken stock
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup fresh chives
- Prepare potato brunoise—you have two options to begin: (1) cut the potato into a perfect rectangular box or (2) square off all sides and ends producing a rectangular box with rounded corners. The former is a lot more wasteful, but your brunoise will be perfectly uniform—go with whichever you prefer. To finish the brunoise cut the potato into 1/8” panels, rotate the stack 90° and cut into 1/8” juliennes, then cut the stacked juliennes into 1/8” cubes.
- Melt butter in a large sauce pan over medium heat. Add diced onions and sweat covered until translucent, stirring often.
- Add potatoes, 1.5 cups of stock, and cayenne pepper. Bring stock to a boil and reduce heat, simmering until potatoes are almost tender. Like a conventional risotto, add extra stock if needed and stir often. You’re looking for a creamy texture with a little bit of sauce in the pan.
- Add heavy cream and simmer until potatoes are tender but still hold their shape.
- Mix in parmesan cheese and chives before serving. Devour tout de suite.
If I could fault anything about this recipe it’d be that it’s a little on the rich side, so next time I’ll probably balance the fat with a little acid—either with white wine or lemon zest.
