The New Potato Special

New potatoes for the new season. These recipes work with any thin-skinned young potatoes or year-round fingerling varieties. That’s not to say that all small potatoes are created equally — of course there’s a huge difference between the earthy wallop of flavour you get from a Jersey Royal and the simple sweetness of a supermarket new potato. But each are delicious and work well in all of the following recipes.

When cooking new potatoes generally start in cold, well-salted water, bring to a simmer and drain when tender to the point of a knife. If using in a salad, dress while still warm so they soak up the flavours of the dressing. You can cook potatoes for salad in advance but make sure they return to room temp before serving - nobody likes an ice-cold potato. If there’s a second step to the cooking process (ie roasting) then you can do this right away or from chilled/ leftovers. In fact working with cold potatoes from this point can be a good idea — they’re firmer, easier to handle and cooked/cooled potatoes magically develop resistant starch which has all sorts of amazing health benefits.

Potatoes are nature’s gnocchi, after all?

Recipe
Makes 4 portions

1. Place the potatoes in a large pan with the thyme stalks, well covered with cold, salted water. Bring to a simmer and cook until completely tender to a knife point. Drain and set aside until cool enough to handle

2. Meanwhile make the pesto - place all ingredients in a food processor (or pestle and mortar) and blitz until smooth-ish

3. Place a wide pan over a medium heat with a little oil. Add the courgettes to the pan. Stir in the picked thyme, salt and pepper. Stir until just softened, and finish with a good squeeze of lemon juice

4. Cut the potatoes - smaller ones in half, larger ones into uneven thumb sized pieces. Place a large pan over a medium-high heat with a good amount of oil. Add the potatoes, stir from time to time until golden on all sides

5. Stir the courgette into the potatoes and re-season to taste. Place on serving plates and top with the burrata, a good drizzle of pesto and a few pine nuts

Recipe
Makes 6-8 portions