Recipe 30: Fondant potatoes

This is one I've been trying to get right for a while, but never quite getting it from what I thought it was or from snippets on cookery programmes, I actually went online to find out how to do this. There are a number of different ways to cook fondant potatoes, but essentially there are two main stages:

• Fry them in lots of butter until golden
• Boil them in stock (chicken, beef, etc. you choose!)

I’ve used this one from the BBC Food website and, unsurprisingly for anything cooked in lots of butter, it was delicious! I cooked 6 potatoes with intention of having some heated up with lunch tomorrow but before I knew it, two had glided down my throat and I hadn’t even tucked into my duck or courgettes! So, I ended up eating it all.

Serving this with duck, lots of butter, courgettes and my favourite reduced red wine and berry sauce (recipe 24), it felt somewhat French, so I thought I’d crack open the champagne chilling in the fridge. Well, I had had a good meeting with my doctoral tutor late this afternoon, so that might have pushed me over the edge with the champagne. Anyway, without or without fizz, and with or without duck, do try this one. It’s like boiled potatoes but just much, much richer and tastier.

Ingredients

150g butter	2 garlic cloves, peeled, crushed lightly with the edge of a knife
4 potatoes, peeled, cut into barrel-shapes	2-3 sprigs fresh thyme (or dried if not fresh!)
75ml chicken or vegetable stock	salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Heat the butter over a medium heat in a saucepan. When the butter is foaming, add the potatoes and fry until deep golden-brown on one side, about 5-6 minutes. (Do not move the potatoes as they cook.)

2. Turn over the potatoes and cook for a further 5-6 minutes, or until golden-brown on both sides. If you start with a  low heat, you’ll probably want to leave ‘em for ten minutes a side or more…

3. Carefully pour in the stock, then add the garlic cloves and thyme sprigs. (be careful, the hot fat will spit and splutter when it comes into contact with the stock). Season, to taste, with the salt and pepper. The stock won’t cover the potatoes. This is fine. If they haven’t softened up enough quickly enough, simply turn them over in the stock.

4. Cover the pan with a lid and reduce the heat until the stock is simmering. Simmer the potatoes until tender, then remove the potatoes from the pan using a slotted spoon and keep warm.

5. Serve with a juicy meat (I’ve used duck breast, which is a fast and firm treat on a weekday night!

Today’s learning:

Use a low sided pan to do this with. I used a normal saucepan and had the devil of a time turning the potatoes over in the butter; they get quite slippy, you know!

Recipe adapted from ‘The Hairy Bikers’: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/fondantpotatoes_93087