Pommes Fondant

 

When presenting our recipes, we must also take care of their sides. These must be complementary, that they do not interfere with the flavor of the main delicacy and, above all, they must be easy to make. We often solve these accompaniments with salads, open and seasoned tomatoes, peppers or French fries. If you want to make a somewhat more sophisticated accompaniment, within the simplicity, there are the pommes fondant.

'Pommes fondant' means 'potato base' and that's basically what it's all about. To make fondant pommes it is necessary to have large potatoes - the type that we would generally discard precisely for that reason - and above all straight ones. The ends are cut to make a "sustainable" base and they are split in half, giving them an octagonal shape like the one seen in the previous photo. From there comes the recipe that I explain.

INGREDIENTS :

• Generally, a fondant pomme is served, at most two per diner. Two large potatoes of this type make at least 800 grams  (1.75 lbs), so for 4 people we need about 1.5 Kg (3.3 lbs)
• 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter
• Fish, poultry or meat broth, depending on the type of stew that will accompany (half a cup is more than enough)
• Crushed aromatic herbs to taste (rosemary, thyme, oregano, parsley etc)
• Salt
• ground black pepper
• extra virgin olive oil

As we have said, we cut the tips of the potatoes still unpeeled and cut them in half. We peel these halves giving an octagonal or similar shape (this is a tradition, it does not improve or worsen the flavor).

Then we must put the potatoes in cold water to remove excess starch. About 10 minutes will be more than enough.

Dry them well with absorbent paper.

In a frying pan that can go in the oven - although it is not essential if you are not going to use it as I will explain later - pour a generous stream of olive oil and heat it until it begins to smoke. It is time to fry the potatoes on their flat side, now over medium heat. While you salt and pepper them abundantly and if you want, add the aromatic herbs.

When one side is golden, you turn them over to cook the other. THE SIDES ARE NOT MADE, ONLY THE BASES.

Once they have been conveniently fried, it is necessary to remove the excess oil. Instead, add the butter over medium heat and let both bases cook just as we did with the oil. Go seasoning continuously.

When a dark golden color has been achieved, add the half glass of broth and let it cook while continuing to water the potatoes with the juice from the base. When the broth begins to be consumed you can do two things: finish the potatoes with more broth until they are soft (but without falling apart) or take them to the oven preheated to 200 degrees (390 F). I personally prefer the second option.

I leave them in the oven long enough for them to soften in the center - it can be 5, 10 or even 20 minutes depending on the type of potato, which sometimes can be very hard - and when I take them out they will have worked the miracle: a crispy potato on the outside, firm but when opened it will have the softness of a butter cream and a spectacular flavor.

My mouth is watering just thinking about it...