Well, let me just give a big shout out to Melissa D'Arabian, the newest Food Network Star! I tried one of her recipes night before last and can I tell you something? It was P-E-R-F-E-C-T! I have never made ANY pastry dish, much less a French dish, where it turned out like the picture off of the page of a magazine. I can usually make them turn out pretty well, but there's always one or two little things that I usually wish may have turned out a little crisper, flakier, etc. But folks....follow this recipe and you WILL NOT FAIL! Although, my grocer was out of Gruyere cheese, but I substituted a really good fresh baby Swiss and it was still P-E-R-F-E-C-T! (Don't just substitute any old cheese...you would need one that is of the same relative consistency and texture of the Gruyere in the recipe, otherwise, you would have either too much or too little moisture in the dish. So, if you don't know a lot about cheese and you can't find Gruyere....I promise, you won't go wrong with a good baby Swiss (not the sliced kind, but the fresh kind that you would grate yourself--about $6.00 for a pretty decent sized chunk).
Also...the recipe does give the instructions for making your own pastry. However, if you are extremely busy, like me, refrigerated pastry crust is just fine...actually, in some cases, it's even better! I used Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust (2 per box--not the crust in the pan but the kind that you would put in your own dish!).
So, on with the recipe. I have pasted it for you below, compliments of Food Network and Melissa D'Arabian. I HOPE that you will try this! It was absolutely DIVINE! And if it's any testimony from the husband point of view, Rob LOVED this. The reason that this thrilled me so much is that he is usually not a "savory pastry" fan. But he COULD NOT stop talking about this. He was totally shocked! After all of his praises the other night, this recipe is DEFINITELY going to the FRONT of my recipe box!
PLEASE try this and PLEASE let me know what you think! One final little "cooks tip"....I would HIGHLY recommend that you slice the potatoes using a mandolin or a food processor slicing blade (or like me, a Pampered Chef Zyliss slicer, set to thin--not paper thin, maybe about 1/8" thick). If you don't have evenly sliced potatoes and if they are too thick, this dish is not going to cook evenly and your layers won't be as pretty when you cut it. But, if you don't have a slicer, just make sure and get the slices as uniform as possible. You're going to be "dealing these out" in the dish almost like you would deal a deck of cards...they should move that fluidly in your hand. So, if they don't then you might have them sliced too thick.
Okay...are you ready? I have included their text from the website, but the pictures below are mine, each step of the way. I can't wait to hear from you!
Ingredients
- 4 strips bacon
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme (I was out of fresh, so I used about 1/4 tsp of dried thyme)
- 2/3 cup heavy cream
- 2 Pie Crusts, recipe follows (I used Pillsbury refrigerated pre-made crusts!)
- 3 medium baking
potatoes, peeled - Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup grated Gruyere cheese
- 1 egg yolk, whisked with a splash of water
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
In a skillet over medium heat, cook the bacon until just crispy. Drain on paper towel lined plate and set aside. Crumble the bacon when cool to the touch.
Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, heat the thyme and cream over low heat to a bare simmer. Turn off the heat and let steep for about 5 minutes. Remove the thyme sprigs.
Remove the pie pan from the refrigerator. (I "dock" the bottom of the pie crust with a fork so that it will not bubble up....this will let the steam come through and your crust will cook perfectly--you can see the fork's marks below) Slice the potatoes in half lengthwise and then finely slice the potatoes. Working in circles, arrange the potato slices in the pie crust, stopping to season each layer with salt, pepper, and about 1/4 of the crumbled bacon.
Continue layering until the pie pan is nearly full.
Top with an even layer of the cheese and gently pour cream around and over the entire pie, allowing it to seep down between the potato slices. (You may not use all the cream.) (writers note: I used all of the cream and it was perfect) Roll out the remaining disk of refrigerated dough. Cover the pie with the dough and crimp the edges closed. Brush the top and edges of the crust with egg wash.
Make a few slits in the center of the top crust, for the steam to escape, and put the pie pan on a baking sheet. Bake the torte until the crust is browned and crispy and the potatoes are cooked through, about 50 to 60 minutes. (My over is calibrated pretty well and 50 minutes was perfect).
If the crust edges get too brown, cover them with some strips of aluminum foil. Remove the pie from the oven and let rest at least 15 minutes before cutting into wedges and serving.
(~~SEE THE PRETTY LAYERS!~~)
Pie Crust:
- 1 cup butter (2 sticks), cubed and chilled
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 8 to 10 tablespoons ice water
Put the butter, flour, and salt in the food processor, and pulse lightly just until the mixture resembles wet sand. Add the water, 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing briefly after each spoonful of water. Keep adding water until the dough just begins to gather into larger clumps. Transfer equal amounts of the dough into 2 resealable plastic bags and pat each into a disk. Let rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Remove 1 of the disks from the bag to a flour coated surface. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to a 10-inch round. Gently fit the rolled dough into a 9-inch pie pan, and refrigerate while you prepare the torte ingredients.
Yield: 2 (9-inch) pie crusts
