The French have a extensive list of potato side dishes and many of them make a regular appearance on our holiday dinner tables. I’m thinking of Gratin Dauphinois, Potato Salad, Lyonnaise potatoes, Roasted Duck Fat Potatoes or my favorite Tartiflette, but there are more.
Aligot originates from the Aubrac region in the South Central France, called Massif Central. This area is known, among other things, for it’s cheeses (e.g. Cantal, Tomme/Tome Laguiole or Tomme/Tome fraiche and Bleu d’Auvergne) and the Laguiole knife. This potato dish (Pomme Aligot) is traditionally made with the cheeses from it’s region, but those are not easily available in the US. Thus, a variety of cheeses are used as substitutes, like Gruyere, Comte and even Mozzarella. Mozzarella is not a French cheese as you know, but it gives a crazy good cheese pull.
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Key Ingredients in This Recipe
You’ll find the complete list of ingredients and exact quantities in the recipe below.
- Yukon gold potatoes
- Cream
- Butter
- Comte cheese – Gruyere is a great alternative or Appenzeller. It needs to be a cheese that melts easily, adds some warm flavor to the potatoes and is strechy.
- Thyme – or chives or sage. This is not really part of the original recipe, but merely a decorative addition.
How to Make Pommes Aligot
Step 1 – Peel and cube the potatoes and boil them in water with a generous amount of salt. If you like to add garlic, add an entire clove here. Cook until the potatoes are fork tender.
Step 2 – Drain the potatoes (keep some potato water for later) and discard the garlic cove. Use a potato ricer, a food mill or a fine mesh sieve to mash the potatoes.
Step 3 – Add the cream and butter to the mashed potatoes and start mixing.
Step 4 – Add the grated cheese in various steps. Make sure you mix it thoroughly.
Step 5 – Keep on mixing, add a little bit of potato water, and mix some more – until you had a proper upper body work-out. The cheese melts, and will form a gooey, stretchy mixture.
Step 6 – Season the aligot with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
If the aligot is too thick, add a little bit of cream or potato water. Make sure you do the mixing on a low heat. Only take it off the heat when you serve this dish.
Your Pommes Aligot is ready. This is what you should be able to do, pull a long string of this potato-cheese mixture.
Pommes Aligot
Pin Recipe Facebook Share by TextIngredients
- 1 pound Yukon gold potatoes
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 3/4 cup cream
- 6 ounces Comte cheese (NOTE 1), grated
- 3 tablespoons potato water
- salt & pepper
- nutmeg
- thyme, or chives, sage
Instructions
- Peel and cube the potatoes and boil them in water with a generous amount of salt. Cook until they are fork tender. (NOTE 2)
- Drain the potatoes (keep some potato water for later) and discard the garlic clove. Use a potato ricer, a food mill or a fine mesh sieve to mash the potatoes.
- Add the cream and butter to the mashed potatoes and mix.
- Add the grated cheese in various steps. Make sure you mix it thoroughly.
- Keep on mixing, add a little bit of potato water, and mix some more. (NOTE 3) The cheese melts, and will from a gooey, stretchy mixture.
- Season the aligot with salt, pepper and nutmeg and mix that.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
- Gruyere, Appenzeller are great alternatives. Find cheeses that melt easily, add flavor.
- Add double the amount of salt than you usually do for mashed potatoes. If you like to add garlic, add an entire clove with the potatoes.
- The creation of the stretched aligot will take some time. This part of the recipe will be like an upper body work-out.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.