Boulangère is French for 'baker', and this is a peasant dish born from necessity. In rural France, homes without ovens would take their dishes of sliced potatoes and onions to the local baker — the boulangère — where they would be cooked in the residual heat after the bread had come out. Frugal, unhurried, and quietly brilliant.

I lived in the Limousin from 2002 to 2004, where my then-wife and I ran La Grille, a restaurant opposite Château de Brie near Champagnac-la-Rivière. The château sat on the Route Richard Cœur de Lion — a 200km trail through Haute-Vienne and Corrèze, linking 23 sites connected to Richard the Lionheart, who received his fatal crossbow bolt at Châlus-Chabrol in 1199. The only problem with Château de Brie's place on the trail is that it was built in 1484 — a full 285 years after Richard died. The Count and Countess du Manoir were not ones to let historical inconvenience get in the way of good tourism. I always found it quietly amusing. The story circulated regardless.

What I never found, despite two years in the heart of rural southwest France, was boulangère potatoes on a restaurant menu. It seems to live entirely at home, which is perhaps where it belongs.

It is not dauphinoise. There is no cream, no cheese, no richness in that direction. Instead, it is all about stock, sweet caramelised onions, and time. The potatoes absorb the liquid slowly; the edges catch and colour, and what you end up with is savoury, tender, and deeply satisfying.

I make it regularly in my 24cm Marseille Blue Le Creuset. Whether the skins stay on depends on the potatoes — thin-skinned and it's fine to leave them; anything thicker and they come off.

Boulangère Potatoes Recipe

Serves 2–4 as a side

Potatoes, thinly sliced (a mandoline helps)

Onions, thinly sliced

Clarified butter

Fresh thyme

Sea salt and black pepper

Chicken stock — enough to come about two-thirds up the potatoes. Vegetable stock works just as well and makes this vegetarian.

Caramelise the onions slowly in a little butter with a pinch of salt. Take your time — you want them sweet and golden, not burnt.

Layer the potatoes over the onions in your dish or pan, adding stock, a little butter, thyme, salt, and pepper between each layer.

Make a cartouche to cover and place in the oven at 130°C for one hour.

Remove the cartouche and return to the oven at 140°C for 20 minutes. Watch the top layer — you want colour, not char.

Add a little more stock and butter, then give it a final 10 minutes uncovered.

That's it. Simple. It just needs time.

If you're after another French classic that's settled comfortably into Spanish life, my warm goat's cheese salad with honey and walnuts is cut from the same cloth.

This recipe is part of the Potato Recipes — The Flexible Chef's Complete Collection — every potato recipe from Casa Adora and the road. Explore the full collection.

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