Potato Pavé is a classic French recipe (think very high end scalloped potatoes), and there are several renditions of it on the Internet. This one is from the famous French Laundry restaurant in Napa. The simplicity of ingredients (potatoes, butter, cream, garlic, salt and pepper) combined with two cooking stages separated by a recommended 6 hour chilling time result in robust potato flavor and amazing, delicate texture.

Trust the French to use the word Pavé (paved) as a title alluding to cobblestone streets. Finished, it does look a little like a ruddy street. But as the first crisp bite melts in your mouth with combined silken butter and lusty potato… pure culinary genius.

I recommend staging this recipe over two days. The first part takes about two hours (peeling, slicing, preparing the pan, layering, and wrapping) and 90+ minutes baking. The cooked potatoes then are refrigerated for 6 hours or overnight. The second part begins by bringing the cooked potatoes to room temperature (an hour) and then takes about 45 minutes (remove from pan, cut into sections, trim and fry).

Wrapping and chilling the potatoes before frying them is what produces the fabulous texture of this recipe. It is well worth the time.

Potato Pavé Ready to Eat

Potato Pavé
Adapted From The French Laundry Cookbook By Thomas Keller
Serves 4

Ingredients

3/4 cup heavy cream
2 garlic cloves, roasted until soft and mashed
Sea salt and pepper
2, 1/2# russet potatoes
4 tbs. unsalted butter: 1 tbs. softened; 3 tbs. cut into ½” cubes
Canola oil
Minced chives

Procedure

Preheat oven to 350º
Brush a roasting pan (3” high edges) with half of the softened butter. Line the pan with parchment leaving 5” overhang on the long sides. Brush parchment with remaining softened butter.

1. Pour cream into a large, deep bowl. Add mashed garlic and 1 tsp. salt and pepper
2. Peel potatoes and put into cold water bath


Very thin slices of potato are necessary for Pavé

3. Using a mandoline or other good slicing tool,
   

   This slicer is (technically) a truffle slicer.

   slice the potatoes (1/16”) into the cream, moving them to coat with cream.

4. Remove potato slices from cream and trim them into rectangles that will be flush to the edges of the pan and create solid, even layers in the pan. Lay them in the direction that works best to fill the pan. After the 2nd layer and every other layer after that, dot the surface with cubes of butter, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
   

   The layered slices are dotted with butter and salt and pepper.

5. Fold the parchment over potatoes to cover with the 5” sides on top. Cover the potatoes tightly with foil.
6. Bake 1 hour 40 minutes until the potatoes are completely tender. Remove pan from oven. Cut out a piece of cardboard that is 1” less on all sides than the potatoes. Cover the cardboard in foil and place on top of the potatoes. Weight it with a book or anything that can withstand hours of refrigeration. Cool to room temperature, and then refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight.
7. About an hour before frying the Pavé, run a knife around edges of pan, remove weight and cardboard. Remove the potatoes from the pan using the parchment overhang as handles. Unwrap the Pavé and trim all four edges. Cut it into 8 equal pieces and let them sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.


Cooked, weighted, chilled and ready to cut into rectangles.

8. Heat oil in large fry pan over medium high heat. Add potatoes cut side down. Baste with liquid until each pave is brown on bottom. Turn it carefully to the opposite side and brown that.
   

   Notice the layer edges crisp and browned.

9. To Serve: Sprinkle minced chive on top of each pave and serve immediately.