We tried French cooking!
OK, we made a super simple French dish, and one that’s so close to some traditional American food that even the most picky, closed minded eater couldn’t object to it. Still, give us some credit.
Aligot, from southern France, is sometimes described as a potato fondue – basically, it’s very creamy mashed potatoes with cheese mixed in. We’d never heard of it until the New York Times recently published a short article and recipe on aligot, so we used this as an inspiration to create our own version, using ingredients we could actually find in our local stores.
Here’s what we used:
- 3 medium potatoes
- A block of white cheddar cheese
- A stick of butter
- Cream
- Green onions
- Pepper
So first, to prepare the potatoes, we skinned them, cut each into four pieces, and let them simmer on the stove for about 20 minutes. Then we drained them and put them through a ricer.
While the potatoes we boiling, we shredded a block of white cheddar cheese and then cut an entire stick of butter into small pieces (see, we told you this was going to be creamy).
Once the potatoes were shredded and back in the pot they had been cooked in, we stirred 1/2 cup of cream that we had warmed up in the microwave. Then we added half of the butter and mixed it in, and once it was melted (thanks to heating up the cream) we added the rest of it. Last, we mixed the cheese in one handful at a time. You’ll know the aligot is done when it turns into a thick, cheesy potful of potato goodness.
Just to be fancy, Cyril took some chopped some of the green onions and threw them on top. He also added some cracked pepper to his right at the end.
And there you have it – French cooking! This was a very easy recipe to make: not too adventurous but definitely delicious. We used white cheddar because that’s what we could find at the store, but the original recipe we saw called for Gruyère cheese, and you can experiment with different kinds of cheese to find out what you like best.
So, if you want to impress people by cooking something European, or you’re looking for a new variation on mashed potatoes, or you just want to eat around 10 servings of dairy in a single bowl, give this a try. You can’t go wrong with potatoes, butter, cream, and cheese.