Crisp Delia Smith lyonnaise potatoes are thin slices of simmered potato fried in olive oil, then scattered with gently fried onion. You simmer the potatoes for 15 minutes, then slice and fry them in two pans for about 12 minutes. It serves 2 and is on the table in about 40 minutes.
Page 285 of the 1983 Complete Cookery Course has her basic sauté potato method, and page 257 of the 1992 edition repeats it. It is still on her website today. For really crisp results, she relies on olive oil and two or three frying pans, so the slices never overlap. Boulangère potatoes are a different dish, her website explains, because they are layered with onion and stock and baked, like her boulangère potatoes with rosemary.
Frying for 4 to 6 people gets awkward, as How to Cook Book One (1998) admits. It needs four pans and leaves the kitchen greasy. Its oven-sautéed potatoes lyonnaises, on page 188, solve that, and the book finds them particularly good with her roast lamb with garlic and rosemary. Whichever way you cook them, serve them at once.
Delia Smith Sauté Potatoes Lyonnaise
Simmered Red Désirée potatoes, sliced and fried crisp in olive oil in two pans, then scattered with soft fried onion, coarse pepper and rock salt.
2
servings10
minutes30
minutes650
kcalIngredients
- For the potatoes:
900g Red Désirée potatoes
4-5 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
coarse rock salt and freshly milled black pepper
Directions
- Prepare: Put some crumpled greaseproof or kitchen paper in a warm serving dish.
- Simmer: Thinly peel the potatoes and cut them into even pieces, not too small. Cover them with boiling water, add salt and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Slice: Drain the potatoes, then slice them thinly and evenly on a wooden board.
- Onion: Heat a tablespoon of the oil in a small saucepan and fry the onion gently.
- Fry: Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in each of two medium frying pans. When it sizzles, add the potatoes in a single layer. Fry them over a high heat, turning them after 5 to 7 minutes, until golden brown and crisp all over.
- Serve: Lift them onto the paper with a slotted spoon and scatter over the onion, coarse black pepper and crushed rock salt. Pull out the paper and serve at once.
FAQs
Which potatoes should I use?
Red Désirée potatoes are the choice on her website, 900g for this recipe. Peel them thinly and cut even-sized pieces, not too small, then simmer them for 15 minutes before slicing. The 1998 oven version uses Désirée too, halved if large.
Why use two frying pans?
Two or three pans let the slices cook in a single layer without overlapping, which she calls the secret of really crisp sauté potatoes. The other half of the secret is olive oil, heated until it sizzles before the potatoes go in.
When does the onion go in?
The onion cooks on its own, gently, in a small saucepan with a tablespoon of oil. It is scattered over the potatoes at the very end, once they are crisp and drained. In the oven version, the onion goes in sliced rather than chopped, 10 minutes into the baking.
How do I keep them crisp?
Drain the potatoes on crumpled paper in a warmed dish, then pull the paper out and serve straight away. Both her website and the 1983 book warn that they go soggy if you delay.
Can I cook them in the oven?
Yes, the 1998 oven version on page 188 serves 4 to 6. Steam 900g of Désirée potatoes with a dessertspoon of salt for 10 minutes, cool them under a tea towel and slice them into 7mm rounds.
Toss them in 2 tablespoons of hot oil on a preheated 40 x 28cm tray. Bake at 220°C for 10 minutes, high in the oven. Add a sliced onion tossed in the last tablespoon of oil, then give them 10 minutes more, or 15 if they need it.
Can I make plain sauté potatoes?
Yes, leave the onion out and you have her basic sauté potatoes, as the recipe itself says. Everything else stays the same, including the two pans and the olive oil.
How do I make sauté potatoes niçoise?
Sauté potatoes niçoise are a variation in her 1983 cookery course, on page 286. Cook half a finely chopped green pepper and a crushed garlic clove with the onion. Stir the mixture into the potatoes and sprinkle with chopped herbs or parsley.
