A date night dinner that doesn’t break the bank. With just a bit of patience, you can make savoury, buttery and crusty potatoes that will steal the show.
Time: 3/5
The main course and the sides can be cooked in parallel.
Effort: 4/5
The potatoes need some turning and basting in the oven.
Outshining the Master
I have a problem. When I cook a fancy meal for a special occasion, the side dish steals the show from the main course more often than not. Sure, ribs are great, but the duck fat fries were way better. Or, you might think the fresh clams are the star of the stir fry, but it’s actually the glass noodles that hoards all the flavour.
I ran into the problem this Christmas dinner again. I mean, the steak is nice. Pick a good piece of meat, salt it well in advance, chill it overnight uncovered to dry out the surface, get a good sear on it, and cook it to desired doneness. Great, savoury and meaty, but it’s also not surprising. Steak is steak, you know what you signed up for.
The fondant potatoes were a different story. The ingredients don’t raise any eyebrows at all. It’s just potatoes, butter, stock, some Maillard reaction, and passive time in the oven. Maybe some herbs and aromatics.
But you have that combination of the crustiness from the dry heat, and the pillowy fluffiness of the wet heat below the water line. And because the potatoes spend so long sitting in hot stock, the starches have time to suck up all the flavour. It’s pretty crazy.
Even better, the fondant potatoes spend most of the time in the oven cooking themselves without any work on your part, which leaves your hands free to work on the steak. And less time in the kitchen means more time with your dinner date.
This is the first time I’ve made fondant potatoes, and I am thoroughly impressed. I’m definitely incorporating these into my date night rotation, and I look forward to getting better and better at making them.
Posts since the last recipe that was actually served with rice: 1
Dramatis Personae
Served 2.
- 2 150g ribeye steaks
- 4 small potatoes, similar shaped
- Several cloves of garlic, crushed but unpeeled
- A few sprigs of fresh thyme
- 2 tbsp neutral oil
- 2 tbsp butter
- 0.5 cups chicken stock, plus extra water as needed
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Executive summary
- Salt and pepper the steaks the night before. Leave them uncovered in the fridge overnight.
- Peel and trim the potatoes into similarly shaped cylinders.
- Using an oven safe pan, sear the potatoes on both sides in neutral oil, and reserve.
- Add butter, thyme, and garlic cloves to the pan. Sauté until fragrant.
- Return the potatoes to the pan, along with chicken stock.
- Roast potatoes in a preheated oven at 200C/400F for 30 minutes. Turn the potatoes halfway, and add water or stock if the pan has dried up.
- Meanwhile, sear the steaks and cook to desired doneness, and reserve.
- While the steaks rest, stir fry vegetables in the fond and drippings left by the steaks.
- Once everything is done, assemble and serve.
Play by Play
Last things first – the potatoes take the longest. Peel and trim them into a relatively uniform shape and size.
Next, I seared the potatoes in butter before adding the garlic, herbs, and stock. I did this in a cast iron skillet so it can go straight into the oven.
Keep an eye on the water level and top it off with stock as needed. Give the potatoes a flip halfway through the cooking process.
The odds and ends from the trimming do not go to waste. I made them into a tapas plate of sorts for my hungry guest by seasoning them generously with salt, garlic powder, and a sprinkle of dried herbs.
Next is the steak. Plenty of oil, in a well preheated pan. My steaks were kind of thin so I pulled them before the crust was perfect because I did not want to go beyond medium well.
Next goes a vegetable stir fry, right in the steak drippings. This deglazes the pan, which makes cleaning up much easier, and also obviously seasons the vegetables with delicious beef fat.
The potatoes are done now too. The stock has either been absorbed into the potatoes, or evaporated and left behind a thick coating of umami goodness.
And that’s it! Steak and potatoes, with a vegetable stir fry. Nice and balanced meal that still feels like a special occasion.
Like I said, potatoes slow roasted in butter and stock is the real star of the show.
Steak and Fondant Potatoes
Ingredients
- 2 150 g ribeye steaks
- 4 small potatoes similar shaped
- Several cloves of garlic crushed but unpeeled
- A few sprigs of fresh thyme
- 2 tbsp neutral oil
- 2 tbsp butter
- 0.5 cups chicken stock plus extra water as needed
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Vegetables of choice
Instructions
- Salt and pepper the steaks the night before. Leave them uncovered in the fridge overnight.
- Peel and trim the potatoes into similarly shaped cylinders.
- Using an oven safe pan, sear the potatoes on both sides in neutral oil, and reserve.
- Add butter, thyme, and garlic cloves to the pan. Sauté until fragrant.
- Return the potatoes to the pan, along with chicken stock.
- Roast potatoes in a preheated oven at 200C/400F for 30 minutes. Turn the potatoes halfway, and add water or stock if the pan has dried up.
- Meanwhile, sear the steaks and cook to desired doneness, and reserve.
- While the steaks rest, stir fry vegetables in the fond and drippings left by the steaks.
- Once everything is done, assemble and serve.
Keep browsing by categories, or by tags:
Beef Blog Broccoli Cabbage Carrots Cast iron Cheese Chicken Curry Dashi Date Night Dried scallops Dried shrimp Eggs Fish and seafood Garlic Ginger Glass noodles Gochujang Honey Miso Napa cabbage Onion Oven Pasta Pork Potatoes Salmon Sesame oil Shiitake mushrooms Shrimp Soup Sous Vide Steaming Stewing Stir fry String beans Sweet potatoes Teriyaki Tofu Tomatoes Vacuum cooker Vegetarian Yogurt Zucchini
One response to “Steak and Fondant Potatoes”
Can’t wait to try this one out – I love when you mix things up and the recipe doesn’t involve a pressure cooker : )
Thank you!