Chef Poppy O'Toole, known online as Poppy Cooks, has shared a surprising twist on roast potatoes: coating them in clotted cream before roasting. The method, demonstrated on her Instagram page, produces potatoes she describes as having a "phenomenal" caramelisation and a "super glisten crispiness."
O'Toole, 32, who has built her reputation as the "Potato Queen" after a decade in Michelin-starred restaurants, told her 1.4 million followers in a reel: "So I saw you can cook roast potatoes with clotted cream, and I have to give it a go." She admitted the recipe was one of the "weirdest" she had created, adding, "I just don't know how I feel about it. I do love a clotted cream though."
The Preparation Method
To prepare the potatoes, O'Toole sliced them into quarters and placed them in a pan of cold, heavily salted water, which she described as "key" when cooking anything grown in the ground. After boiling for approximately 15 minutes until "fork tender," she drained them and steam dried them, an "important step" she achieved by placing them in a colander over the pan and covering with a clean tea towel for 5-10 minutes.
While still piping hot, she returned the potatoes to the pan and added roughly half a tub of clotted cream, folding it through. O'Toole confessed it felt "wild" combining the cream with the potatoes, but she allowed it to melt in, exclaiming it was "like butter." She scattered a pinch of salt over them before transferring to a warmed baking tray and placing in the oven.
The Results and Verdict
Once cooked, O'Toole remarked that the potatoes "looked good," with the cream visibly caramelised. She sampled one, describing it as "very soft" and noting the clotted cream appeared to melt in the mouth. She suggested the roasties would be better suited to a summer roast dinner, explaining that a thick gravy would simply "melt into nothing."
Taking another bite, she added: "They're just like fluffy clouds of potato. They are good actually."
