New potatoes have arrived

The new crop of local potatoes has now begun!

Sometimes called creamer potatoes, sometimes called butter potatoes, always delicious.

NEW POTATOES!!!

These creamy, buttery delights should grace your table from now until early September. What makes a new potato taste so different than the old crop ones? New potatoes have a very high water content, very few starches, and a very creamy buttery texture, a completely different tuber than those that we eat all winter long. These potatoes are best served boiled, steamed or roasted. They have much too high of a water content to make a nice light flakey baking potato.

Choosing

Size doesn't matter! Really, it doesn't when it comes to new potatoes. All sizes of new crop potatoes will taste the same as long as the skins are very thin and rub off easily under thumb pressure. Some tricky farmers have begun to choose varieties whose red skins stick to the potato with a bit more vigour, don't let this fool you! Just use very firm thumb pressure to try your skin rub off test. Some people like to choose the smallest of the small potatoes to make the dishes that they create with them look like they've popped off of the page of a magazine (they are very pretty), but the big ones taste just as nice. Knowing that Martha Stewart has left her mark on the world, farmers have begun to separate the small potatoes from the larger ones, charging a premium for the smaller size. Feel free to spend the extra money on the smaller ones if you would like, but the larger sizes taste just the same.

Storage

Because new potatoes have very few starches in them, you have to keep them refrigerated. Keep new potatoes in the fridge, in a plastic bag (prevents dehydration), for up to 2 weeks. If you leave them out of the fridge, they will turn brown and wrinkly within a few days. This will not affect the taste when cooked, but makes them look less appealing.

Preparation

Don't peel new potatoes. Simply wash to remove dirt, keeping as much of the delicate skins on as possible. Cut potatoes to a uniform size and cook. You can

Boil- Place potatoes in salted water and boil until tender (20-30 minutes depending on the size), then serve topped with butter, salt pepper, and fresh dill (I like to toss in a little lemon juice and zest in with the potatoes too).

Roast- cut new potatoes up to uniform size, place in baking pan, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper (I add a lot of minced garlic to this one too), and bake in the oven at 300 degrees turning every 10 minutes until tender. (20-30 minutes)

Potato Salad- Boil new potatoes until tender. Let cool, cut into bite sized slices or pieces and toss with either a garlic, rosemary and olive oil vinaigrette. Or with my Lemon Dill Dressing, or a dilly vinaigrette of your choice. Devine, and low in fat!

I always prepare more potatoes than needed so that I can fry the left over potatoes the next morning for some very heavenly hashbrowns.

Remember to improvise, if you have fresh herbs in your garden, serve them with the new potatoes, roasted fennel goes wonderfully in a mix with roasted new potatoes. And who says that you can't have a meal of strictly new potatoes and peas in the pod. Seasonal vegetables are just that, seasonal. Enjoy them while you can!

Take Care
Erin