Five ways with new potatoes
There’s always something rather pleasing about things in miniature and new potatoes are no exception to the rule. Special varieties to look out for are Cornish Earlies - usually harvested early in the Spring; famous Jersey Royals, and my favourite - deliciously creamy Pembrokeshire Earlies, grown on the west coast of Wales.
It’s a good thing if they’re sold ‘dirty’ with lots of soil rubbing off on your hands as you give them a gentle squeeze to check their firmness. The in-tact skin and soil are a good sign of freshness and flavour.
This week, I’ve cooked them lots in my kitchen studio for a recipe book all about vegetables, which has been very exciting indeed. I can tell you that they make a great filling for pasties, samosas and pies, as well adding body and creaminess to chowders and salads. Potatoes have no hard edges in terms of form or flavour, and it’s probably for this reason that they work so well with so many other ingredients. Here are some of favourite ideas:
In a salad - new potatoes retain their shape and firmness, unlike their fully fledged King Edward and Maris Piper cousins, so they make a great salad ingredient that you can really stick your fork into. Just be sure to dress them with the other ingredients while they’re still warm, which will help the spuds to absorb lots of flavour. Try this recipe I wrote for Root Zero spuds (new potatoes will become tender more quickly, so check them after 12 minutes).
In a roast - Toss 1kg of scrubbed new potatoes with extra virgin olive, salt and pepper to coat, then roast in an oven heated to 220C for 25-30 minutes until tender inside, with crispy skins. Squeeze over lemon juice and stir through chopped rosemary.
In a soup like this one.
As some one who cooks for a living, I can tell you with my food stylist hat on that samosas are very tricky to shape neatly and quickly - inevitably the time it takes to eat them is a fraction of the time and effort that goes into the filling, rolling and folding. I’m a Big Fan of carb-on-carb, though and a savoury potato pastry is my idea of heaven. This is a corker of a recipe.
Ask greengrocers (or google) about the ingredients that are ready to harvest around the same time as new potatoes. I hate the saying “what grows together goes together”, but it really is true with potatoes. Asparagus, peas, tender green herbs, radishes and spring onions are also in season now and are perfect partners to the potato (as well as salt, which goes without saying.) Toss a few cooked and still warm new potatoes together with lemon zest and steamed asparagus spears, a handful of fresh herbs and some grassy olive oil, and serve alongside a young goats cheese or smoky grilled white fish and you have a perfect Summer lunch.
