Fancy Roast Dinner with Boulangère Potatoes

Roast Dinner with Boulangère Potatoes

Ingredients:

• About 2-3 Pounds potatoes
• 1/2-1 Cup Stock
• 2 Cloves Garlic
• 1 Small Onion
• 1 Tablespoon Butter
• Pepper
• Roast of Choice
• 3 Tablespoons Butter
• 3-4 Cloves Garlic
• 2 Teaspoons Salt
• Pepper
• 2-3 Sprigs Rosemary, Leaves only

Optional:

• 1/2 Cup Bread crumbs
• 1/2 Cup Fresh shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 Cup soft shredded cheese
• 1 Tablespoon parsley

Instructions:

1. In a small skillet, melt the tablespoon of butter. 
2. Finely chop the onion and stir fry in the skillet for about 8-10 minutes until the onions are soft and translucent.
3. Chop the garlic cloves in half and rub the cut edge of the garlic cloves all over the inside of the dish the potatoes will bake in. 
4. Lightly grease the pan with cooking spray or butter.
5. Add the cooked Onions on the roaster. 
6. Finely slice the potatoes, I used my mandolin for this job. 
7. Arrange the sliced potatoes over the onions in the roaster so it looks even and pretty. 
8. Season with a bit of salt and pepper.
9. Finely chop the rosemary leaves. 
10. In a small food processor or bowl mix together the chopped rosemary, butter, salt and pepper. 
11. If you have a food processor add the garlic cloves and pulse smooth. 
12. If you are bowl mixing finely mince or grate the cloves or garlic and mix it in.
13. Rub your butter paste all over your roast, place on its rack, and place the rack over the potato roasting dish. 
14. Pour the stock into the roasting dish until there is enough to cover the entire bottom of the roaster. Don't drown the potatoes, they should be less than half submerged in the stock.
15. If you are making this ahead of time cover the roast with foil and place it in the fridge, until 30 minutes before cooking time.
16. If you are going ahead with cooking. Please have your oven preheated to 450°F.
17. Roast uncovered for about 15-20 minutes, then reduce heat to 325°F and continue to roast until your meat has reached the correct cooking temperature. 
18. Once the roast has cooked, lift the rack off the roasting dish, and transfer to a platter and allow the roast to rest covered for about 15 minutes. 
19. Optional: Mix together the bread crumbs and cheeses in a bowl, toss over top of the potatoes after the roast has finished cooking. Sprinkle parsley over the entire top of potatoes. Only if you want. . .  this is optional.
20. Return potatoes to oven, raise temperature to 400°F. Continue to cook potatoes until tender and ready to eat. 
21. Serve potatoes family style on the table with a lifter, carve the roast after lifting and allow guests their choice of cuts. Complete the meal with a salad and of course. . . 

Enjoy!

Notes:

I made the most delightful roast leg of lamb this week for my fancy Monday night dinner, and my goodness it might have been the best meal of my life. I served it with the potatoes in this recipe, Parsnip Chips, and Stuffed Tomatoes, with mini cheese cakes for dessert. Oh it was a good night of food.

So, Boulangère is french for cooked kinda like a casserole with onions. So while it sounds super fancy and French it is also wicked simple to make. Which is my favorite kind of cooking. I also used my trivet and some long metal skewers raise the roast over the roaster and then was able roast my leg of lamb right over the potatoes. If you can pull this off I suggest trying it because everything tasted like nothing I have ever had. If you can't rig something up so you can roast over the potatoes, then that is alright. Just use a deep casserole dish for the potatoes and a roaster for the roast. Everything will still be perfectly wonderful.

Also this is a great recipe for dinner parties or to make ahead and have someone else put it in the oven about 1  1/2 - 2 hours before you get home, someone like a husband or babysitter, and then you come home to a lovely dinner. A very nice plan. If you do it this way, just remember to remind your oven operator to take the roast and everything out of the fridge about 30 minutes before putting it in the oven at 325°F. Or if you trust them you can follow the roasting instructions in the recipe below.

Alright finally, you can use a beef roast, pork roast, roasted chicken, lamb, pretty much anything with this recipe. You can also change the type and flavor of the rub used on the meat to really change the final flavor of everything. This is a recipe that can be used again and again with different herbs, seasonings, and flavors so it shouldn't ever get boring. I suggest garlic and rosemary in this recipe, but almost anything could work.

Hm this reminds me that I want to make a chart of never fail seasoning combinations. . .