Potato-Bacon Torte by Melissa d’Arabian

This is not just my signature dish, but may actually be the recipe on the The Next Food Network Star that won me my own cooking show. The contestants were challenged to cook the ultimate dinner party meal for an incredibly esteemed group of chef-judges including Bobby Flay, Masaharu Morimoto, and François Payard. There were three finalists remaining and we had a sky-high budget to execute our menu. What did I make? My humble fifty-cents-a-serving Potato-Bacon Torte! It proved definitively that you can create something special enough to serve the country’s finest chefs while not spending an arm and a leg to make it.
Serves: 8
Preparation time: 30 minutes (plus 30 minutes to rest and 30 minutes to cool)
Cooking time: 1 hour