This delicious recipe is adapted from award-winning chef and food writer Jennifer McLagan. It's a variation on the classic Pommes Anna, a "cake" made with thinly sliced potatoes drizzled with butter and baked in a pan. This version is made with sweet potatoes, butternut squash, and apple, in addition to potatoes with our Graisse de Canard instead of butter. The rich, complex, sweet and savory flavors make this dish sing. It's the perfect partner for roasted poultry or meat and can be prepared in advance and reheated in the oven.
Preheat an oven to 375 degrees. Brush an 8- to 9-inch cake pan with a little of the melted Graisse de Canard Gold® and line the bottom with a round of parchment paper.
Peel the potatoes, sweet potato, and squash (remove the seeds from the squash) and cut them all into rounds 1/4 inch thick. Peel and core the apple and slice it the same thickness as the vegetables. This is an easy job if you have a mandoline. If you don't have one, your slices might be thicker, which is fine, but the cake will take a little longer to cook.
Place a sprig of thyme on the parchment paper and layer half the potato slices in concentric circles in the pan. Sprinkle the potato slices with some thyme leaves, season with salt and pepper, and drizzle with a little Graisse de Canard Gold®. Next, layer half the sweet potato slices, sprinkling with thyme leaves, seasoning with salt and pepper, and drizzling with Graisse de Canard Gold®. Repeat the process with half the squash. Layer all the apple slices on top of the squash, sprinkle with thyme leaves, season with salt and pepper, and drizzle with Graisse de Canard Gold®. Continue layering the vegetables an seasonings, ending with the remaining potato slices. The layers may reach above the top of the pan.
Transfer the pan to a baking sheet and cover the top of the cake with a piece of parchment paper. Place a cast-iron skillet or a heavy casserole lid on top of the parchment to weight down the vegetables.
Bake for 15 minutes and then carefully remove the weight and the parchment paper from the top of the cake. Continue to bake the cake until the vegetables can be easily pierced with a skewer, another 30 to 40 minutes.
Remove the cake from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes. Invert the cake onto a warm plate, remove the parchment paper, and cut into wedges to serve.
