Janisoni's revenge
This potato dish is a cross between the well-known Swedish dish known as Jansson's frestelse (Jansson's delight) and Montezuma's Revenge. The strength of the latter effect depends on how many chillis you add.
There are many variants on grated/scalloped potatoes flavoured with piquant meat and/or cream and/or cheese in European cuisines. Just think of Rösti or Pommes voisin. This particular variant uses anchovies and cream AND cheese, and whilst many people's reaction to the thought of anchovies in potato gratin is "yuk" (the opposite of the New Zealand "yum"), anchovies do not taste much like anchovies when cooked in this way. They impart a general air of well-being to the whole ensemble.
Ingredients
- 1 kilogramme potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly (keeping the skins on may seem appropriately wholemeal, but they go stringy and get stuck between your teeth)
- 50 grammes unsalted butter (the anchovies usually supply enough salt), melted
- 200 ml cream
- 200 ml coconut cream (for the south seas flavour - it works well)
- 200 ml milk
- 15-20 anchovy fillets, in oil (if the anchovies turn out to be too salty, then next time soak for a couple of hours in milk - its difficult to know in advance because each culture cures them slightly differently)
- 3-5 small chillies, chopped
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon cumin (or caraway) seeds
- 2-3 cloves chopped garlic
- 2 or 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan
- Chopped coriander leaves to garnish
First of all, melt the butter in a small pan and fry the mustard and cumin seeds, and garlic, and chilli, until the mustard seeds start to pop. Do not overcook and burn the seeds - it is better to fry hard for a few minutes and then douse the bottom of the pan in the sink to stop the frying quickly.
Put a layer of potatoes (slightly overlapping each slice) in a large ovenproof dish, then add anchovies, spoon of butter/seed/chilli mixture, and sprinkle of parmesan, before adding another layer of potato slices, etc., until everything is finished. Finish with a layer of potato and top the lot with a bit of parmesan.
Heat the various milks and creams in a pan until just boiling, then pour over the potatoes. Cook the thing in a slowish oven (160°C, 325°F, Gas Mark 3) for 1˝ to 2 hours, or until the potatoes are soft and the liquid has been absorbed, and top is nicely browned. Once or twice during the cooking, compress the mixture in the dish to produce a more solid texture.
Serve hot, cut into chunks, and add chopped coriander leaves to garnish. Or leave the dish on the table by the barbecue, alongside the bowl of tamarind chutney, so everyone can serve themselves after grabbing their charcoal seared mahi-mahi steaks.
Tim Adams
Noumea, 2000
