NEW POTATOES

New potatoes are a must in the spring. The small tubers with their thin peel need only be boiled and to be served with a little butter and salt to become a delicacy. New potatoes contain more water than autumn and winter potatoes, resulting in a better texture. It also means that new potatoes don’t often fall apart when cooked.

The definition of a new potato is a potato that has been harvested before it’s completely mature, to be eaten immediately, not stored, with skin that can be removed easily without peeling.

The later in the summer it is, the bigger the potatoes will be and the thicker the skin. But as long as the skin is thin and the potatoes are small, they are perfect to eat boiled or whole in a summery potato salad.

Keep in mind

Small, attractive, new potatoes can be seen more as a spring vegetable than as an ordinary potato. The very first ones are the smallest.

How to cook new potatoes

New potatoes are boiled, with or without dill. The first small ones can be eaten as a vegetable side dish, drenched in butter or with a good olive oil and flaked salt. Once the first “new potato fever” has calmed down, these little tubers are great oven baked or in a potato salad.

Learn the art of boiling new potatoes:

• Use a big enough pan, the potatoes should cover the bottom. Pour in water so that it just covers the potatoes.
• Add salt (1 tsp salt per liter water) and bring to the boil at the highest heat. Use a lid.
• Turn down the heat once the water has come to the boil.
• It should boil but not madly. Estimate about 10-15 minutes if the potatoes are small.
• The potatoes are ready when you prod them with a skewer, a knife or a fork and don’t feel any resistance.

Drench the freshly boiled new potatoes in butter and it will bring out the flavor even more.

Make a potato salad from whole, small new potatoes: Boil the potatoes, drizzle with a good olive oil and stir in rocket, asparagus and radishes, for example.

Roast the potatoes to make them deliciously sweet: Place on a baking sheet with a little oil and roast in the oven at 225°C for 20 minutes. Make a herb oil with fresh herbs, lemon zest, garlic and parmesan to drizzle over when they’re done.

The classic

Freshly cooked new potatoes, drenched in butter, with a pinch of sea salt.