Mini Pommes Japanna (Mini Pommes Anna, Japan-style)

Sorry about the title…couldn’t help it!

Pommes Anna is a French dish made simply of potatoes, butter, salt and pepper. The potatoes are very thinly sliced, layered, and baked to a blissful combination of crisp creaminess. It’s the perfect example of humble ingredients resulting in indulgent, flavorful dishes. Now, I can’t claim the genius behind making this mini-version. The credit for that goes to Naomi of Bakers Royale, a fantastic blog with a whole host of wonderful recipes. Her mini Pommes Anna can be found here.

The moment I saw her gorgeous photos, I knew I had to make this dish. But with a Japanese spin, of course. The first step was to use Japanese sweet potatoes, satsumaimo, in addition to small white fleshed potatoes. Then, I walked past a display of Kyoto red carrots. This is the perfect time of year for these beautiful roots and they are traditionally seen in Japan around the New Year. Their gorgeous red color and sweet flavor are similar to the familiar orange carrot, but slightly different. The flavor was perfect in these little 2-bite appetizers. And since Pommes Anna is basically the same color bottom to top, I thought a splash of red Kyoto carrot would be gorgeous!

Fortunately, the carrots were perfect. I layered them with the potatoes and put a few on the top for a splash of color. (Next time, I would add even more carrot slices, fanning them out so they are easier to see between the layers of potato.) With a leaf of chervil as a garnish, this is an ideal recipe for a holiday cocktail party. They are easy to eat as finger food and look beautiful on these bamboo dishes.

I used Naomi’s recipe, which you can find by clicking here. I didn’t need to change anything at all and it worked perfectly!

*You can purchase eco-friendly products like catering supplies and plastic plates from restaurantware.com and receive 10% off by entering the coupon code: tokyoterrace. For the dish used in this post, click here to purchase.

Tagged as: Appetizer, Appetizers/Side Dishes, butter, easy, holiday menu planning, Japanese, Japanese food, Vegetables