Is there any vegetable - or food for that matter- that you can do more with than the potato? Such a versatile root! Of all the things I have done to potatoes, I had never tried the English favorite fondant potatoes. (No, not a potato made from sugar intended to decorate baked goods.) Fondant is cooking in a stock, or in some cases, the foods own juices. It is for this reason that you want to use a hearty potato, like a russet.
1 Prep:
Fries are easier to make from scratch than fondant potatoes.. Even mashing is not as much work. Fondant potatoes take time and effort. Especially if you want to make the perfectly round ones that look like sea scallops.
One of my favorite food blogs is Steven Dolby’s Steve’s Cooking. He uses a round pastry cutter to cut the spuds into nice perfect circles. Such extra effort at presentation is usually lost on my family, so I didn’t bother.
I watched Gordon Ramsay’s youtube video on fondant potatoes. He does not even bother with the round shape, and peels the potato and then just cuts it in half lengthwise.
I went the route of Food Wishes Chef John, and just peeled the potatoes, but I did cut them about an inch thick. And I also trimmed around the top edge a sliver at about 45 degrees, to prevent burning.
That is really all of the prep work you need to do. The rest of the work is in the actual cooking.
2 Frying:
Pre-heat your oven to 400. You need cast iron or other oven safe skillet. Get it smoking hot. If you have a high smoke point oil, like grapeseed oil, use it here. I used olive oil and it was too smoky. Season with salt and pepper.
Place the top side of the potatoes down and let them brown over the high heat, just a few minutes. Then, lower the heat to medium and turn the potatoes over. Here is where you add a fuckload of butter and some sprigs of thyme, and let it all simmer together. For about fifteen minutes.
3 Baking
At this point I removed the oil, butter and thyme. Then, added chicken stock just up to the bottom quarter or so of the fondants, and then into the oven for twenty minutes, until I could easily stick a knife into them.
I did something wrong, because my lovely tops were not hard and crispy enough, but the potatoes were very fragrant and had a great texture. Ironflower, my pickiest eater, even ate a whole one!
I served them with my Chicken Piccata, but I think next time I will try them with a cut of pork, and fresh veggies.
