Fondant Potatoes with Duck Fat and Thyme
The preparation of these potatoes might seem a little faffy and believe me, I thought so too, but by making sure they are all fairly uniform, you will encourage the best even cooking.As we know, potatoes come in all shapes and sizes, from knobbly to skinny. Therefore, I haven't put a total weight of whole unpeeled potatoes in the recipe because it all depends on their shapes! The aim is to end up with around 350 g of evenly-sized potato cylinders, and the leftover scraps of potato can be made into chips or mash.Use waxy potatoes as they will keep their shape during the long steamy roast.
Servings: 2
Ingredients
- 350 g peeled and shaped waxy potatoes See first step of the recipe
- Olive oil
- 2 tbsp duck fat available in jars at supermarkets
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2-3 garlic cloves smashed
- Handful of thyme sprigs
- 250 ml chicken stock
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Peel and carve your potatoes - I peel around the circumference multiple times to reach an even round shape. Trim the ends, and depending on the length of the potato, cut the long cylinder in half or thirds. You can tidy up the round sides by carving away slithers with a paring knife. Make sure they are all roughly the same height and breadth, around 3-4 cm/1-1.5 inches tall and 6 cm/2 inches wide.
- Rinse the potatoes, pat dry then toss them all in a splash of olive oil with a generous pinch of salt and pepper.
- Preheat the oven to 230°C/210°C fan/450°F.
- Melt the duck fat in a large oven-safe frying pan over medium high heat. Once it is hot and sizzling add all the potato cylinders on one flat side. Lower the heat to medium and leave to cook for around 6-8 minutes - checking after 5 to assess the colour of the bases.
- Once they are all evenly golden and crisp, turn them over and cook for another 6-8 minutes on the other side. Again check the underside mid-cook to check they are browning evenly.
- Once they are all golden on both sides, add the butter, garlic and thyme to the pan. Allow the butter to melt then generously baste the potatoes in all the fragrant fat.
- Pour in the chicken stock, bring the liquid to a simmer, then put the pan in the hot oven and roast for 30 minutes until the potatoes are buttery soft and the stock has thickened. Halfway through the roast, take out the pan to baste the potatoes in all the stock.