Boiled potatoes folded into a cheese sauce with bacon through it. Rich enough that it stops being a side dish and becomes lunch.
Steps two and three are a béchamel
The recipe never says so, but that is what it is: butter melted, flour stirred in, milk added gradually until it thickens. Knowing that makes the whole thing easier to get right.
- Equal amounts of butter and flour. Four tablespoons of each here, which is the standard roux.
- Cook the flour for a minute before the milk goes in, or the sauce tastes of raw flour.
- Cold milk into a hot roux is the reliable way to avoid lumps, and adding it gradually while stirring is more reliable still.
Nutmeg is the classic béchamel seasoning, and half a teaspoon is enough to notice without being able to name it.
The nutmeg confusion
Worth flagging because the original step said to add the nut each, which is nonsense in English. It came from nuez moscada, nutmeg, with the translator splitting the word in two and rendering half of it as each.
The nutmeg is in the ingredient list, it belongs in the sauce, and grated fresh it is considerably better than the pre-ground kind.
Do not overboil the potatoes
They get stirred into a sauce afterwards, so they need to be just tender and no more. Potatoes boiled until soft break apart when you fold them into the sauce and turn the dish into a rough mash.
Test with the point of a knife: it should go in with a little resistance still there.
Serve it straight away
Cheese sauces thicken as they cool and this one has a lot of cheese in it. Five minutes on the counter and it goes from creamy to stiff.
If that happens, a splash of hot milk and a stir brings it back.
More potatoes
- Papas rellenas — filled and fried.
- Papas chorreadas — the classic, with cheese sauce and scallion.
- Mashed potatoes — the plain one.
- Potato croquettes — for leftovers.
Papas Alfredo FAQ
It is a mistranslation of nuez moscada, which is nutmeg. The translator split the word and turned moscada into each. The nutmeg is in the ingredient list and it goes into the sauce, where it is the classic béchamel seasoning.
Use equal amounts of butter and flour, cook them together for a minute, then add cold milk gradually while stirring. Cold milk into a hot roux disperses evenly; hot milk into a hot roux is where lumps come from.
Because they get folded into a sauce afterwards. Potatoes boiled until soft break apart at that point and the dish turns into a rough mash. Test with a knife: some resistance should remain.
The pairing here is doing two jobs: parmesan for salt and flavour, mozzarella for melt and stretch. Any hard salty cheese works for the first and any good melting cheese for the second.
As written it is rich enough to be a main course for four, with a green salad. As a side it will stretch to six or more.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 5 potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes
- 4 tablespoons butter (for the béchamel)
- 1 tablespoon onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 4 tablespoons wheat flour (equal weight to the butter: that is what makes a roux)
- 2 cups milk (cold milk into a hot roux is what prevents lumps)
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg (the classic béchamel seasoning; grate it fresh if you can)
- ½ cup parmesan cheese
- ¾ cup mozzarella cheese
- ¼ cup bacon, diced
- Salt and pepper
- Cilantro or parsley, to taste (to finish)
Notas
Instructions
- Boil the cubed potatoes in salted water until just tender, then drain.
- In a pan, melt the butter, add the onion and garlic and stir for a minute, then add the flour.
- Stir for a minute to cook out the flour, then pour in the milk. Add the nutmeg and keep stirring until the sauce thickens and is smooth.
- Add the parmesan and the mozzarella, stir, and cook for three more minutes over medium-low heat.
- Meanwhile, in another pan, fry the bacon until golden. Add the cooked potatoes and stir.
- Pour the cheese sauce over the potatoes and bacon and stir until everything is coated. Season with salt and pepper.
- Stir once more and serve straight away, with cilantro or parsley over the top.
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