As you know, we’re a baby food recipes site… but today we’re deviating just a bit to share with you the most delicious way of cooking potatoes for the grown ups that we’ve ever come across!
Friends visiting us from England told us about Fondant Potatoes – (strange name, I know, which somehow conjures up images of cake decorating!) – and when we tried them for ourselves we saw just what they were raving about! The potatoes are sublimely creamy and full of flavour – give them a try and you’ll see the humble potato in a whole new light!
To make Fondant Potatoes you will need…
4 peeled white potatoes (we used Russets, but if you’re in the UK try King Edwards or Maris Piper)
4 fl oz (1/2 cup) chicken stock
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter
salt and pepper
few sprigs of thyme
First, you are supposed to make all the potatoes into barrel – or cylindrical – shapes. We didn’t have time! Instead, we cut them all in half lengthwise so they were around the same size – this is so they would cook evenly. The pieces shouldn’t be too big – ours were all around an inch thick.
Next, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil and 1 tbsp butter in an oven-proof pan, set on the hob. Season the potatoes with salt and pepper and – when the oil/butter is really hot, add the potatoes.
Cook them until the undersides are golden brown, then turn them over.
Pour the chicken stock into the pan and add the thyme sprigs. Put a little blob of butter on the top of each potato.
Transfer the pan to the oven (preheated to 400 deg F / 200 deg C) and cook until the potatoes are done (check with a knife to be sure). Ours took just under 20 mins.
The potatoes should be crunchy on the outside – and buttery, creamy and totally yummy on the inside!
Enjoy!
The amount of butter in this recipe -plus the addition of salt – is why we specified this is a recipe for the grown ups.
However, you could adapt it a little if you want to share with your tot – you could use a homemade or low sodium stock and leave out the extra salt. You could also avoid serving him the crunchy skin of the potato and just offer him the creamy insides instead!
We would have included a photograph of these potatoes – but we ate them before deciding to include them on our blog today! However, we’re sure to be making them again soon and we’ll pause to take a photograph before we tuck in!
UPDATE: We made them again and managed a quick shot before they disappeared !
One word – YUM!
If you give this recipe a try, please do let us know what you think!