Heavenly Fondant Potatoes

Cooking with Rich

2022-08-30T16:00:00+00:00

Heavenly Fondant Potatoes - Cooking with Rich Fondant potatoes are a French thing, at least so the research tells me. A once regular on French restaurant menus apparently they have lost favour over the last decade or two. Not sure why since done well they are heavenly creamy on the inside with a perfect crust on the outside.

What makes them so perfect is the combination of frying, roasting and soaking almost all at once. Infused with garlic and herbs they are a perfect addition to a dinner party and look great, so you can get a little wow factor with your guests.

Fondant potatoes are not complicated to make, only requiring a little extra up front preparation. The main trick I found, over a number of attempts, is having a strong stock to use during the roasting phase. This helps infuse a rich flavour into your potatoes and end up giving the bottom of the potatoes a lovely stickiness once the stock reduces in the oven.

The other trick is not to have the potatoes too small. You could go all out and shape each potato into a perfect cylinder, however to be honest that is going a little far and I find it a little wasteful. After peeling if you can get close to a 1½-2 inch high potato piece that is about the right size.

I have been using russet potatoes, but it would work equally well with most varieties of tatties.

So have a go and let me know.

Heavenly Fondant Potatoes

Preparation: 5-10 mins | Cooking time: 40-50 mins | Serves: 6 adults as side

Ingredients

6-7 russet potatoes, ~5 inch long (to be peeled, cut in half and ends flattened on both ends to get rough 2 pieces out of each potato that are 1½-2" high when sitting on the flat end.
5-6 garlic cloves
1-2 tbsp of unsalted butter
1 tbsp neutral oil (although olive oil works fine)
4-5 sprigs of fresh thyme
300 ml of strong chicken stock* (I will use 3 stock cubes in 300ml of boiling water, super strong flavour).
salt & pepper to taste

Method

Preheat your oven to 180-200℃
After peeling potatoes and shaping as best you can, heat an ovenproof non stick pan, and melt the butter adding the oil to keep it from burning.
Place all your potatoes in on one of the flats sides, if one side is slightly smaller than the other, do the smaller side first.
Fry for 5-6 minutes until golden brown, and turn over. You may need to shake the pan or move the potatoes around to stop them from sticking.
Add the garlic and thyme, and fry the other side for another 5-6 mins, basting the potatoes a couple of times during the process.
When the underside is golden brown, remove the thyme and garlic, I find the garlic can burn.
Carefully add most of the stock to the pan, ~250ml. Be careful as it will splatter as if goes in and move the potatoes a round a little, again to stop them from sticking.
Place the pan in the oven for up to 45 mins. Cooking time will vary depending on the oven, so after about 30 mins test the potatoes with a skewer or small knife to check when done. If the stock reduces too quick just add a little more, or you can add a little water if you have no stock left.
When ready sprinkle with a little fresh time or parsley and serve.

Tips & Alternatives

Get your potatoes to as close to uniform as possible (all should be similar in size). Most recipes recommend cutting potatoes to be almost perfect cylinders, you can do so of course, but we are cooking at home, not a Michelin star restaurant.
You can bake the off cut potato parts and make potato skins, just dizzle with olive oil and add some salt and pepper.
I will typically use russet potatoes, mostly because our local market I can go a pick the individual potatoes to be all roughly the same shape and size. But other varieties are also good.

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