Potato Fondants
A great way to make your dinner extra faaaaancy. There is a reason you tend to find potato fondants within fine dining, they’re a professional chefs fave (including mine) and although they require more effort, they are SO WORTH IT.
This is one of those ‘trust the process’ recipes as at one stage the fondants will appear to fuse themselves to the pan and be at risk of burning, but that’s what you want! They won’t burn and they’ll eventually detach themselves to reveal a beautiful crusted top.
To get that fondant shape, you can either slice around the sides with a sharp knife to give that hexagonal effect or use a cutter. But by keeping the size and shape as consistent as possible means the spuds will cook more evenly.
I used clarified butter for my fondants and if you want to do the same, you can find my recipe here.
Ingredients
- 6 red skin potatoes
- 150g butter
- 1 chicken stock pod
- 200ml water
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 sprig of thyme
- Salt and pepper
Method
- Cut your potatoes into the same lengths and widths. (Using a cutter is an easier way to do this, but you can get by without one!).
- Once your potatoes are cut, get them into water to prevent browning.
- To clarify your butter, place it in the microwave until melted, do not stir!
- Leave in the fridge or freezer to set.
- Once set, poke a hole in the corner and let the milky bit out, this will help prevent burning whilst cooking.
- Get half of your butter melting in a medium heat pan.
- Place your potatoes in flat side down, leave them to colour in the butter for around 10-15 minutes.
- Add in your just crushed garlic, thyme & rest of your butter.
- Once coloured, add in your stock.
- Turn the potatoes over and turn the heat up slightly to bring the liquid to the boil.
- The liquid should be just at the top of the potato, but not covering.
- Leave this to reduce by about a centimetre, then add a cartouche/parchment paper on top.
- Leave them on a medium-highish heat, (just keeping a loose eye on them) for around 40-50 minutes, depending on the size of you potatoes.
- Once the liquid is half way down the potatoes, remove the parchment and leave them on the heat for about another 15-20 minutes. (Once you see that the stock liquid has gone, you should still see the fatty, buttery bit left, this is what is going to give you the caramelised crispy potato top).
- Now don’t be alarmed but you want your fondant to stick to the pan. That’s when you KNOW it's going to be good. So leave the fondants on a low-medium heat until you can’t remove them from the pan
- Take them off the heat and leave to the side, they can take anywhere between 10 and 20 minutes to remove themselves from the pan, don’t rush them or you may end up with all the good bit left, looking up at you in the pan!
- Once they are wobbling free, turn the over and basque in all their glory.