Pommes Noisettes
Roll me into a ball and coat me in browned butter. I wanna live out my days as a Pommes Noisettes.
Please explain. What are Pommes Noisettes?
Noisette is French for “hazelnut” and basically refers to the potatoes which are cut into cute, hazelnut shapes before being coated in butter, giving you a fragrant nuttiness. They’re also known as “fried potato balls” but that just doesn’t sound as fancy tbh. I like to describe them as nuggets of golden nutty deliciousness because they really start to glisten when you see them frying in all that lovely hot browned butter. I love how much you can get from only two ingredients, it’s seriously impressive, but of course I had to add more.
How do I make the little ball shapes?
To get those spherical shapes, you can use a Parisian spoon (which is the proper tool), but I simply used a melon baller. Bit retro, but it’s surprising how many times I’ve genuinely used my melon baller, such a handy piece of kitchen kit to own. If you don’t own one, you can shape them using a knife but it does obviously take a bit longer and needs more concentration. If using a melon baller, push it firmly into the potato and rotate the utensil to get that circular shape – you can wriggle it round a bit if you meet some resistance.
You’ll have some raw potato leftover when you make these, but don’t bin it. We don’t do waste here. Use it to make mashed potato, Irish potato cakes or even my chocolate coated potato macaroons. Seriously don’t knock these, they’re like little soft rich truffles perfect to end your meal with. By doing this, you’re getting two courses out of a humble spud and this is why I love potatoes so much.
For more potatoes with fancy sounding names, try my pommes souffles. I have a full category on my website dedicated to potatoes so have a browse, get utterly lost in it, make hundreds of spuds and become as obsessed as me. I’ll be adding new recipes every week so you’re in for a real treat.
Ingredients
- 4 medium maris piper potatoes
- 50g salted butter
- 2 garlic cloves, sliced thinly
- 1 tsp chilli flakes
- 2 tsp runny honey
- salt to taste
Method
- Peel and ball your potatoes, you should get around 3-4 balls per potato, depending of the size of the spud. I used a melon baller to get that spherical shape.
- Once balled, place them in a pan of cold salted water, bring to the boil and cook for around 8-10 minutes until tender. Don't let them get too soft as you don't want them to lose their shape and go mushy.
- Then, drain them off and get a frying pan on medium heat with the butter in.
- Once the butter is frothy add the potato balls in the buttery pan and leave to cook for say 10-15 minutes more. Keep stirring and turning the potatoes over.
- You want the butter to turn brown and frothy. at this point add in the garlic, chilli and honey and leave to cook for another 5 minutes or so.
- Once the potatoes are golden all over and you can smell nuts they are ready. Sprinkle with flakey salt and dig in!