5 Ingredients or Fewer

Pommes Aligot

by:
October 22, 2019
4.6
5 Ratings
Pommes Aligot
Photo by Rocky Luten. Prop Stylist: Brooke Deonarine. Food Stylist: Yossy Arefi.
  • Prep time 15 minutes
  • Cook time 40 minutes
  • Serves 6 to 8
Author Notes

This classic French recipe is the ultimate comfort food. It's creamy mashed potatoes mixed with rich, melty cheese. The consistency of these potatoes is exceptionally fun—when they're ready to serve, the aligot should stretch and pull almost like melted mozzarella cheese. Comté and Emmental are the featured cheeses in this recipe, but you can use any semi-firm, Alpine-style cheese. Also, feel free to make the mashed potatoes ahead of time, and then reheat them and add the cheese at the last moment before serving. Just use a little tap water to help reheat the mashed potatoes before adding the cheese. —Josh Cohen

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 4 medium Idaho potatoes
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 3/4 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup Comté cheese
  • 1/2 cup Emmental cheese
Directions
  1. Peel the potatoes and cut them into 2-inch pieces. Add them to a large pot and add room temperature water to cover the potatoes. Add a few pinches of salt to the water, and then gently simmer the potatoes over medium high heat until they are fork tender, about 30 minutes.
  2. When the potatoes are tender, remove them from the simmering water and mash them using either a ricer, food mill, or tamis. Discard the water but save the pot, you'll use it again. If you use a masher or a fork, the pommes aligot will not have the correct texture. A ricer, food mill, or tamis is important here.
  3. Add the butter and cream to the pot. Use medium heat to melt the butter and warm the cream. Add the mashed potatoes and whisk until smooth. Taste the mashed potatoes. Add salt as necessary, remembering that you're about to add a lot of cheese, so your mashed potatoes shouldn't be too salty at this point.
  4. Reduce the heat to low, and add the cheese in three batches. Stir using a wooden spoon. When one batch of cheese is fully melted, add the next batch. When all the cheese is added, taste the pommes aligot. Add salt as necessary. Serve immediately. Enjoy!
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4 Reviews

Justin P.
Justin P. May 8, 2023
Probably the best potato dish I have ever had!! Will be serving at my next dinner party! So good!!so easy!
 
Toujours_perdu
Toujours_perdu October 5, 2021
In France, the dish is simply known as aligot…no need for the “pommes”. If you want it to taste authentic, look for Laguiole cheese (which may not be available in the U.S.) or Cantal (which certainly is). Powdered potato flakes are sometimes used in place of fresh and with lots of butter provide rather satisfactory results. A great option when needing to feed a crowd.
 
Bpetruccelli
Bpetruccelli January 8, 2023
what with or how would you serve Aligot ? is it a stand alone dish you eat with baguette or do you serve it as a side dish? Thank you in advance !
 
Justin P.
Justin P. May 8, 2023
I served mine as a side..