Poppy O'Toole

Poppy O'Toole · The Potato Book

It’s French, it’s fancy, it’s beautiful. If it were a person, it would smoke a cigarette and look down on you. But oh, it’s so cool! If you’re feeling really posh, you might want to serve it by its proper French name, fondant aux pommes, but on a regular day, the English/French mash-up of pommes fondant does the job, too. I remember little GCSE French except for ‘C’est bien!’ which is very much the case here. You’ll need to make clarified butter: I’ve given two options for how – choose your favourite.

Poppy O'Toole · Poppy Cooks

So classic, but so good! I’ve found that gnocchi are something you might order in a restaurant, but not necessarily make at home. There’s something about making pasta that seems super-scary... but making gnocchi is so easy! Think of it as kinda one step beyond making mashed potato. Even successfully pronouncing the word gnocchi makes you feel sophisticated. It’s like ‘nyoh-kee’. Doesn’t that sound fancy?

Poppy O'Toole · The Actually Delicious Air Fryer Cookbook

This is a throwback to one of the first dishes I made in my first ever kitchen job. Shoutout to the Scotch eggs of The Queen’s Head Inn, Bromsgrove, that I’d make time and time again back in 2011. I wish we’d had an air fryer to speed up the process for equally delicious results.

Poppy O'Toole · The Potato Book

If my research is right, poutine means ‘hot mess’... I’ve never related to a potato dish more. I am the poutine of the cheffing world. I love it. You’ve got golden chips (I’m using my oven chips, but feel free to use classic fried chips) topped with squeaky cheese curds and doused in thick, velvety brown gravy. Basically, it’s an upgrade on that classic post-night-out order from your local takeaway. My kinda meal. In 2023, I was lucky enough to be in Montreal, Canada, where this dish comes from. Authentic poutine is incredible. I’ve found just one place in the UK where you can buy cheese curds, and that’s Borough Market, in London. If you’re there, get me some, will ya?