Potatoes Lyonnaise, a la NOLA.

Not long after I moved to New Orleans in 2004, some friends & I treated ourselves to a fancy dinner at NOLA, one of Emeril Legasse’s restaurants.  It’s located in the Quarter on St. Louis Avenue in a renovated warehouse.

I make a confession to you—before moving to New Orleans, I had NO concept of what “fine dining” was or could be.  Red Lobster was a fancy dinner to me. 

We arrived at NOLA and I was bowled over.  We had one waiter for drink refills, one waiter to bring food, one clear the table, and one to use a little crumb comb to clean up our messes for us.

(Pardon me, mademoiselle, it seems you missed your mouth again.)

 

It was like being royalty.  Really messy royalty, apparently.  Nothing like a having a guy come by your table every 10 minutes to clean up your mess to remind you to slow down & take smaller bites.

I don’t see it on the menu anymore, but I’ll never forget the meal I had.  Grilled swordfish steak with a side of potatoes Lyonnaise.  There…there really aren’t words, but I’ll try.  Fresh, smoky, creamy, drool-inducing, potatoey awesomeness. 

I immediately went home & scoured the interwebs to learn how to make it.  And of course… Food Network has Emeril’s own recipe for it.  I’ve tweaked it a bit, but it’s still AMAZING.

 

Ingredients (makes 4 servings):

1.5 lbs baking potatoes, peeled, sliced 1/4-1/2 inch thick

1 tbsp olive oil

2 onions, julienned

1 tablespoon chopped roasted garlic

salt & pepper to taste

1/2 stick light butter

1 tsp Cajun seasoning

1 tsp dried parsley (or 1 tbsp fresh chopped parsley)

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, then prep your veggies.

Place the potatoes in a pot of salted water. Bring the potatoes up to a boil and blanch for 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, drain, and cool. In a large saute pan or skillet, heat the olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the onions.

Season with salt and pepper. Saute the onions until caramelized, about 8 to 10 minutes. Melt your butter in the microwave, then pour into the bottom of a 8x8 or 7x11 ovensafe dish; then cover the bottom of the pan with 1/3 of the potatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Cover the first layer of potatoes with 1/2 of the onions.

Cover the onions with 1/3 of the potatoes. Season with salt and pepper, and roasted garlic. Repeat the layering until all of the potatoes and onions are used, then season the top layer of potatoes with Cajun seasoning and dried parsley (if using fresh, apply it after baking).

Place the pan in the oven and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, then switch to broil for 2 minutes or until the potatoes are golden brown.

 

Serving suggestion—we had this with grilled ham steaks… I think a bacon-wrapped chicken tender (grilled) would also complement this well.  OR, you can pull out all the stops and try a grilled swordfish recipe.

 

NutriFacts:

Calories 243.8

  Total Fat 8.6 g

  Saturated Fat 2.0 g

  Polyunsaturated Fat 2.9 g

  Monounsaturated Fat 4.0 g

  Cholesterol 0.0 mg

  Sodium 97.8 mg

  Potassium 865.9 mg

  Total Carbohydrate 37.2 g

  Dietary Fiber 5.1 g

  Sugars 1.4 g

  Protein 4.4 g

Shared on 33 Shades of Green's Tasty Tuesday.