Yann Nury’s Holiday Canapés - Tater Tots With Caviar and Lemon Zest
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Ingredients:
6 large russet potatoes (GPOD, also known as russet Burbank, potatoes are the best quality)
4 cups duck fat (or peanut oil, beef fat or ghee)
Sea salt, to taste (Nury’s favorite is fleur de sel)
2 cups canola oil, or your preferred oil for frying
1 lemon (preferably Sorrento, but organic California works too)
¼ teaspoon caviar per canapé
The day(s) before the event:
1. Peel and rinse all of the potatoes. If you like, you can peel them and soak them in water 2 to 3 days in advance, but be sure to squeeze out any excess liquid before you grate the potatoes. (Also, whether you are rinsing or soaking, be sure to do so only with whole potatoes — otherwise you risk removing the starch that holds them together.)
2. In a heavy-bottomed pot, such as a cast-iron or Dutch oven, warm the duck fat over medium heat until a candy thermometer registers 220 degrees. Working in batches, grate the potatoes on the largest holes of a box grater and add them immediately to the duck fat. Blanch the gratings for 3 to 4 minutes or until translucent. Remove them with a chinois, or cone-shaped strainer, to drain excess fat. Repeat until all of the gratings are blanched.
3. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and add the potatoes as they finish blanching, sprinkling with sea salt as you go.
4. Gently mold the partially cooked, grated potatoes so that they stick together. Add another layer of parchment paper on top of the potatoes, and then stack a second sheet pan and any additional weighted items you have on hand (such as canned or jarred foods) on top of that, compressing the gratings into one thin, even layer. Let this cool, ideally overnight, in the refrigerator.
The day of the event:
5. Cut the potato “cake” into small rectangles of 3 by 1 inches or into circles of 2 inches in diameter.
Just before your guests arrive:
6. Flash fry the tots in 2 cups of canola oil at about 350 to 360 degrees in the same pot as before, until they start to turn golden and crispy. Remove them with a chinois and place them on a rack to cool.
7. Top each tater tot with caviar and a very thin strip of julienned lemon rind.
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