Noisette Potatoes

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Noisette Potatoes

A classic potato presentation that wows them every time! You will use a melon baller to create this dish. This dish uses the smaller side, less than inch round to make to potato balls. If you use the larger, over one inch round end, you would call them Parisenne Potatoes. This recipe calls for slightly blanching the potatoes before sautéing them. Cooking them from raw will take longer and the potatoes will absorb more of the butter, making them taste better, but they will be higher in calories.

Ingredients:

3 russet potatoes
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons clarified butter or an even mix of olive oil and unsalted butter
Salt and white pepper

Preparation:

Scrub and peel the potatoes and keep them in cold water. Take one potato out of the water and using the small end of your melon baller, extract as many perfectly round balls of potato flesh as you can.

NOTE: You can save the remaining potato for other uses like mashed potatoes of skillet potatoes.

Keep the little round potatoes in cold water until ready to use. Continue with remaining potatoes. Once you have finished processing the potatoes, run them under cold water until the water runs clear. Store them in water under refrigeration until you are ready to cook.

When you are ready to prepare the dish, plunge the potatoes into 1 quart of water and the teaspoon of salt for 3 minutes to blanch the potatoes. Remove and allow them to steam dry on a pan.

In a heavy large skillet, heat the clarified butter and add the dried potatoes and cook for about 6 minutes until browned and thoroughly cooked. Season and serve. The best portions are odd numbers of 5 or 7 pieces per serving.

Variations: You can add black pepper instead of white. Many times we add fresh minced garlic at the last minute of cooking to add flavor, then we garnish with a bit of fresh chopped parsley.

Chef’s Note: Clarified butter is butter that has had the water and milk solids removed from it. This is done by melting the butter over medium heat and skimming off any foam that may rise to the top. The butter fats are then carefully poured off leaving behind the watery milk solids behind to be discarded. Generally it takes 1-1/4 pound of butter to make a pound of clarified butter. Clarified butter has a higher flash or smoke point than regular butter and is preferred in professional kitchens for sautéing.

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