Cooking in:Choose small, earth-encrusted new potatoes and you'll be in for a treat.
New potatoes bring back memories of my grandmother's vegetable garden. Neat rows of vegetables grew out of sandy soil enriched over the winter months with seaweed from the beach across the road. From the front door, Sligo bay stretched as far as the eye could see.
Digging potatoes with the sun on the back of your neck is no hardship, and eating them by the bowlful with butter that I had watched my grandmother churn in the cool of the scullery was, even then, a memorable feast.
As a nation we are inextricably linked to the spud, and it still occupies a prime position in our diets. It is a vegetable so humble by itself and yet utterly glorious when showered in butter, olive oil and vinegar, or meat juices, perhaps enriched with a little cream.
Buy dirty spuds, they will reward you in the end with their sweet nuttiness. And go softly with the scrubbing, much flavour is contained in and just below the skin.
Recipes serve 4
NEW POTATO, PEA AND DILL SALAD
200g fresh or frozen peas
12 small new potatoes, cut into 1cm slices
2 eggs
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp soured cream
2 spring onions, trimmed and finely chopped
4 tbsp finely chopped dill
juice of 1 lemon
Cook the peas in unsalted boiling water (salt toughens the skins) for barely two minutes if they're frozen, about five if fresh. Remove and refresh them under cold water. Add the potatoes to the boiling water, which should now be salted. Cook for eight to 10 minutes, or until they are tender. Boil the eggs for eight minutes, remove, refresh under cold water, peel, halve and roughly chop them. Scatter the potatoes and peas over four plates. Whisk the olive oil into the soured cream, season with salt and pepper and thin with a little warm water. Drizzle this over the potatoes, sprinkle the spring onions, dill and eggs over the top and season with salt and pepper. Serve with half a lemon on the side.
BRAISED CHICKEN AND AIOLI
1 chicken
1 onion
1 leek
2 carrots
2 sticks celery
10 peppercorns
bunch of parsley
2 fat garlic cloves, peeled and bashed
Maldon sea salt
2 egg yolks
300ml light vegetable oil
lemon juice to taste
1kg carrots
12 small new potatoes, halved lengthways
Place the chicken in a large pot along with the onion, leek, carrots, celery, peppercorns and the stalks from the parsley (finely chop and reserve the leaves). Cover the bird with cold water, bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer for one hour. Remove the scum that collects on the surface.
Put the garlic and a teaspoon of salt in a pestle and mortar and grind to a paste. Whisk in the egg yolks and while continuing to stir, add the oil drop by drop until the mixture emulsifies. You can then add the oil in a steady stream. Once the mixture becomes thick, add a little lemon juice to thin it. Continue until all the oil is used up. Season with salt and pepper and add more lemon juice to taste.
Trim and cut the carrots so they are all a similar size. Remove the chicken from the water and discard the poaching vegetables. Set the chicken aside in a warm place. Poach the carrots and potatoes until cooked, about 10 minutes, depending on size, in the same water you cooked the chicken in. Carve the chicken, serve with the vegetables, aioli, a little of the cooking liquor and a sprinkling of parsley. The remaining liquor can be used for soup, or a risotto.