Our Dearest Cousin M spoke of the muffin tin in glowing terms a few weeks back, and he inspired me!
Aside from getting the slices thin (I have a mandolin as suggested by one our chefs), this is super easy. And not heart healthy, at all.
Brush the cups of a 12-cup tin with butter. Slice two very large potatoes quite thin, an eighth inch or so. Put two slices in each cup; season with salt and pepper. Repeat until your cups runneth over, or you run out of potato slices. Pour a tablespoon of heavy cream over each cup, pressing the slices around to keep the cream in the cup and on top of the potato. The only thing you might want to do is to sprinkle a bit of cheeses on top, too. Bake 35 minutes or until crispy on top. Loosen and remove or invert the pan and turn the back up and enjoy.
Muffin tins, Bundt pans, tongs…These are a few of my favorite things! Also with our new-ish wok. How I went a decade without one (having had the same one for at least two decades before that) is beyond me.
I make a version of this too. In between each potato layer you sprinkle in grated parmesan cheese. You then top with the cheese and the cream, which is essential, because otherwise you get burnt spuds and no one likes a burnt spud, especially one containing charred parmesan cheese.
You can also top with chives, but you have to watch to make sure they don’t burn, but they shouldn’t, because they’ll be with the cream.
Chives – what a good idea!
This recipe was given to me many years ago, like in 1995 or 1998 or something, and she got it from a cooking show competition and it was the winner! This is the dish I served at a memorable Thanksgiving as my contribution and an older woman, a distant relative, announced to all, “this is a different way to make Thanksgiving mashed potatoes.” She didn’t mean it as a compliment. But everyone loved it, including a couple of fussy eater kids (her grandchildren) which no doubt only angered her further.
I was very close to that woman though, even though I only saw her occasionally at holidays. She paid me the ultimate tribute of letting me watch her and help her make her signature pumpkin roll, which might be the most delicious bakery treat I’ve ever had, and her family-famous chocolate pudding pie. She, like me, had a strong aversion to canned whip cream so she and I used to whip, whip, whip our own and she’d grill me about New York and all that was new.
She had absolutely no filters, which is another reason I admired her so much. Her zingers were legendary. She used to say in front of all and sundry, including the son involved, “I was convinced X was going to be a girl and I wanted a girl and then when the doctor told me it was a boy…” (voice trailing off.) I once asked the guy, “Did your mother ever say stuff like this to you when you were growing up?” “Oh yeah, for as long as I can remember. But Ma’s crazy. That’s why we always seat you next to her, and Dad on the other side. You’re the only two she seems to actually enjoy being around.”
I make something very similar except with no dairy (2 of my kids can’t handle it). I use a little spray of olive oil and layer the potatoes and thinly sliced sweet onion with garlic salt, and top with another spray of olive oil, garlic salt, and black pepper. I never thought of doing it in a muffin tin, though! I usually use a 9×9 pan.
The great thing about the muffin tin is the result will cook more evenly and possibly more quickly and, best of all, you pop out individual servings so you don’t have to deal with carving into and wrestling out everyone’s portions.
I just picked up non-dairy cream which is supposed to be a 1 to 1 sub for heavy cream. I’m a little dubious it will be same for pure whipped cream in desserts, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it works for something like this. The people behind non-animal subs are getting better.
Can you arrange the slices vertically and do like a faux hasselback?