French-Style potato salad as opposed to one that’s dressed in mayonnaise or soured cream.  I did play about with calling it ‘Herby Potato Salad’ because there are a lot of herbs, but the vinaigrette dressing swung it.  In my house, this is just called ‘Potato Salad’.  It’s my default setting for any summertime barbecue and I love it – not least because it’ll sit in the sunshine without coming to any harm.

You know how chefs say they go to the market and look for what’s fresh and their imaginations start buzzing with ideas of what they’ll create .. well, it wasn’t quite like that.  I went to the supermarket and there was a trolley full of reduced Jersey Royal potatoes .. and I immediately thought, ‘Good, potato salad’.

Does that count???  It’s certainly the way I cook.

Jersey Royals are usually expensive and have EU protected status.  The reason is not the type of potato but the growing conditions.  They’re been grown on the island of Jersey since 1880 and are planted on the steep south facing coastal slopes in well-drained and nutrient-rich soil.  Vraic, which is the dialect word for the locally collected seaweed, is used as a fertiliser and the steep slopes mean much of the crop has to be harvested by hand.

99% of the harvest ends up on the UK mainland, the rest the islanders eat themselves.  This late in their season they’re getting larger than the ones that appear in May.  Best are the ones with mud clinging to them – but I’m grateful for my bargain.

With a Jersey Royal it’s skin-on.  Always.  The skins are paper thin and all the nutrients are just beneath it.  I’m inclined to do that with all small waxy potatoes.  I’m going to sell it on the grounds of health, but I hate scraping potatoes.  Give them a good wash and, for preference, steam rather than boil.  Conventionally, it takes about 20 minutes.  Aga – bring to the boil in cold salted water.  Give it a couple of minutes on the boiling plate and then drain completely of water.  Replace the lid and pop into the simmering oven for 30 minutes.

You are looking for ‘tender at the point of a knife’.

Then cover the saucepan with a clean tea-towel, replace the lid and let it steam dry for a further five minutes.

Hopefully, they’re now dry and cool enough to handle.  Cut into bite sized pieces.  Smaller ones I cut in half, the larger potatoes into four.

Place them in a bowl and pour over a glug of white wine.  Most recipes that call for that will tell you to use what’s left in a bottle.  Who are these people?  Nigel and I would finish the bottle!  So, whenever I open a bottle, I take a little bit off the top and freeze it.  Useful for making a risotto, too, and probably better for us to consume a little less alcohol.  If you don’t drink alcohol, you could miss this stage out completely or use a little bit of chicken stock.

Give it all a stir and then cover with plastic wrap.  The potatoes will soak up the wine.

Meanwhile, make the vinaigrette.  It can be as simple or as complicated as you like.  Considering the quantity of fresh herbs I’m about to include, I keep it really simple.  One part good quality white wine vinegar with three parts good olive oil.  I do spend money on the ingredients for a dressing because they have nowhere to hide.  In this case I actually didn’t use olive oil but a cold pressed rapeseed oil.

Then, I added a blob of Dijon Mustard, salt and pepper.  Give everything a shake and taste.  Now’s the time to make any adjustments.  If you don’t use all of it in this potato salad it’s a lovely dressing on a green salad and will keep happily in the fridge for a few days.

The herbs are the stars of the salad.  Parsley – flat leaf or curly.  I can’t see that it matters.

Basil.

The easiest way to chop basil is to pile the basil leaves up and roll into a cigar.  Then chop with the sharp knife.  If you have any green sludge on your board it’s because your knife is too blunt and you are bruising the herbs rather than chopping them.

And that’s a chiffonade.

I served this potato salad with salmon which made dill an obvious choice.  In fact, any ‘soft’ herb is lovely and when my herb bed is really flourishing I have fun.

I like the tang of spring onions and chop both the white and green parts.  When Seb is home from uni I often omit them and use chives in their place.  Of course, in the interests of honesty, I should mention I get fed up with accommodating his preferences and will revert to spring onions when he’s been home a few weeks.  (You might like to remind yourself of my problem when making cottage pie.)  Finely chopped shallots are also lovely.

By now the potatoes will have sucked up the alcohol.  Add as much of the vinaigrette as you need to coat everything, but not so much as you have a pool of it at the bottom of the serving dish.  Then add the herbs and the spring onions.

If you want to keep this in the fridge, do bring it to room temperature again before you serve it.

Eat.

French-Style Potato Salad

Serves 8 generously

• 1.5kg/3lb waxy potatoes
• 50ml/2 fl oz white wine
• 50ml/2 fl oz white wine vinegar
• 150ml/6 fl oz good olive oil or cold pressed rapeseed oil
• 1 tsp Dijon Mustard
• 1 tsp of salt
• ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 8 spring onions, both the white and green parts, chopped
• 3 generous tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley
• 3 generous tablespoons of chopped basil
• 3 generous tablespoons of chopped fresh dill

Thoroughly scrub the potatoes to get rid of any dirt and steam until they are ‘tender at the point of a knife’.  Cover with a clean tea-towel, replace the lid, and allow to steam for 5-10 minutes longer.

Cut into bite sized pieces and place in a shallow bowl.  Add the white wine and give everything a gentle stir.  Cover with plastic wrap and allow the potato to absorb the wine.

Meanwhile, make the vinaigrette.  I like to use a parfait jar or empty jam jar.  It’s one part white wine vinegar to three parts oil if you like to do it by eye.  Otherwise, 50ml/2fl oz of white wine vinegar in the bottom of the jar.  Add 150ml/6 fl oz of good quality olive oil or cold pressed rapeseed oil.  Add 1 tsp of Dijon Mustard.  A teaspoon of sea salt and ½ teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper.  Replace the lid on your jar and give everything a shake.  Taste.  You can add more seasoning, more vinegar …

Chop your choice of soft herbs.  Parsley, basil and dill are easy to buy and are my default selection.

Remove the plastic wrap and add enough of the dressing to coat the potatoes.  Then the herbs.  3 generous tablespoons of each.  Give everything a gentle stir and serve at room temperature.

Eat.

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Soufflé-ish.  I’ve made up a bit of a fancy name for what is really a cheesy baked potato.  It’s my solution to the fact Dom isn’t excited at the prospect of a baked potato and Liddy thinks they are the food of the gods.  I make these in all kinds of incarnations.  I feel sure if I keep blogging for any length of time they will be in your destiny.

Marauding teenagers, giving every appearance of being prepared to eat you if not given an alternative, can be a frightening thing.  It’s reassuring to have a stash of these tucked away in the freezer.  Open freeze on a tray, uncooked.  Once frozen they can be transferred to a more convenient box.  Ideally, thaw before cooking.  In real life, I have good results straight from frozen.

It begins with the potato and you want a ‘floury’ one.  The same type you’d use for chunky chips and mashed potatoes.  In the UK the most easily available are Maris Piper and King Edward.  Size-wise it depends on what you can find.  Is it just me or are the ones in ‘bags’ universally small now?  I try and pick mine up at the market and have a rummage.  Give them a good scrub under running water to get all the mud off.

Since I am the woman who, early in my married life, managed to set fire to the microwave by not remembering to prick my potato skin before setting it to zap … PIERCE the skin.

Then, because I like my potato skins crisp, I rub my potatoes with rapeseed oil and Malden sea salt.  Fortunately, for the safety of my family, I no longer own a microwave and mine go in the oven.

If you are in a hurry a metal skewer pushed through the centre will speed the cooking up.

Meanwhile, I get on with the fancy bit.  With Seb away at university there is nothing to stop me including spring onions.  Wash and finely slice.

Then, into a saucepan with butter and full-fat milk.  Truthfully, I don’t weigh any of this.  But – for 8 potatoes (weighing about 1.8kg/4lb) I’ve used 100g/4oz butter and 300ml/½ pint of milk.  I used one spring onion per potato for no other reason than I’d have had to buy another packet if I wanted any more!

Over a medium heat, melt.  When small bubbles appear at the edge, turn the heat off and put on the lid.  Let it sit and infuse until the potatoes are cooked.

How long depends on the size of potato you’re using.  It’s somewhere between 1-1¼ hours at Gas Mark 7/220ºC/425ºF.

Cut them in half.

As soon as you can, and I seem to have asbestos fingers, scoop out the soft potato leaving the potato skins behind.

Pass the cooked potato through a potato ricer.

Then add sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste.

Now it’s time to add the infused milk.  I scoop out the spring onions with a slotted spoon and add them all.  Potatoes vary in size and you may not need all the buttery milk.  Add as much as is needed to create a soft mashed potato.

One large handful per potato – plus one for the pot.  Give it a taste.  I’m using a cheese called ‘Sussex Charmer’ which is a cross between a mature Farmhouse Cheese and Parmesan.  There are all kinds of truly fabulous cheeses being made in the UK today and I’m on a mission to try them all.

There’s a whole lot of history behind that – in 1939 anyone making cheese was required by Wartime Law to make one type of Cheese.  It was called ‘Government Cheddar’, and was rationed.  My Grandparents absolutely loathed it.  That law wasn’t repealed until 1954 and, even then, the Milk Marketing Board only allowed Stilton, Red Leicester, Lancashire and Wensleydale.  If you wanted to experience great cheese, you went to France.  The Milk Marketing Board was abolished in 1994, the year my daughter was born – and it was the beginning of the cheese revolution.  By 2010 there were more than 700 named varieties of cheese produced in the UK, that’s 100 more than there are in France.  Fun.

I use 1 egg yolk for every two potatoes – roughly.  Stir them in.

Whisk the egg whites until they are billowy.

Stir one large tablespoon into the cheesy mash to loosen it slightly and then gently fold in the rest.

Pile it into the empty potato shells.  I, of course, can’t waste any of it ..!

A sprinkle of cayenne pepper and a finely sprinkle of cheese.  Then, it’s into the oven for 15-20 minutes until it is golden and slightly risen.  Again, Gas Mark 7/22oºC/425ºF.

Fresh green salad.  Roasted tomatoes.  Chutneys.

Eat.

Cheese Soufflé Jacket Potatoes

Serves 4

• 4 baking potatoes
• Rapeseed oil
• 4 spring onions, finely sliced
• 50g butter
• 150ml/¼ pint) milk
• 2 eggs
• 120g/4oz strong cheddar-like cheese, grated
• Cayenne Pepper
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 7/220ºC/425ºF, if necessary.  Aga:  Cook in the Roasting Oven – directly on the grid shelf on the third set of runners.  Wash and scrub 4 baking potatoes.  Prick all over.  Rub in rapeseed oil and sea salt.  Bake for 1hr-1¼ hours.

Meanwhile, place the finely sliced spring onions in a saucepan with the butter and milk.  Bring to a boil, then cover and remove from the heat.  Leave to infuse until the potatoes are cooked.

As soon as you can handle the cooked potatoes, split in half.  Scoop out the soft potato, leaving the skins intact.  Pass the potato through a potato ricer.  Then add the butter, milk and spring onions.  Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Add the grated cheese, leaving a little behind to sprinkle on the top.

Separate two eggs.  Add the egg yolks to the potato mix and stir everything together.

Whisk the egg whites until they are ‘soft peaks’.  Stir a heaped tablespoon into the potato mix to loosen.  Gently ‘fold’ in the rest.

Return the potato mix to the skins.  Sprinkle with cayenne pepper and a final grating of cheese.

Bake at Gas Mark 7/220ºC/425ºF (Aga:  Roasting Oven) for 15-20 minutes until golden and slightly risen.

Eat.

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Still cooking in ‘real’ time (must stop that) … but that means, here in the UK, it was Mothering Sunday yesterday.  In fact, for us we’d also decided to celebrate my eldest son’s 22nd birthday – a little late – so the seven of us would be together.

Dom is nothing if not predictable regarding his choice of ‘birthday’ food.  Roast beef it was – and I took out a second mortgage and bought a rib.  For those of you worrying I was over-looked – I woke up to a sausage ciabatta with caramelised red onion.  (Thanks Liddy!)

Roast Potatoes always seem a bit-too-much when combined with Yorkshire Pudding.  Since I’m not allowed to cook Roast Beef without Yorkshire Pudding, I tend towards Dauphinoise Potatoes.  I don’t go there if I’m serving my beef with Cauliflower Cheese or cauliflower in a white sauce, but since I wasn’t …

This is also lovely with Roast Lamb, by the way.

Potatoes cooked à la Dauphinoise is a ‘classic’ and is a speciality of Lans-en-Vercor, Villard-de Lans, Autrans and Sassenage.  If you’re a purist you’ll want to butter a gratin dish, rub it with a peeled garlic clove, arrange slices of potatoes and cover it with single cream.  Gratin Dauphinois is made with a mixture of milk, cream and eggs.

I’m not a purist.

It starts with potato.  I prefer a ‘fluffy’ potato, because I like a softer texture Dauphinoise.  Exactly the same as I use for chips and mashed potato.  Peeled.  Roughly, I use about 100g of potato per serving.  It’s super rich – and since I’m cooking for people I care about I don’t want to lead them into temptation.

A mandolin makes easy work of slicing the potatoes into 4mm discs.  Cutting the slices evenly means the potato will cook in the same time.  That’s important as a Dauphinoise which is a combination of mushy and under-cooked potato isn’t worth the calories.  Next best would be a food processor.  By hand .. best of luck!

I’m firmly in the camp of don’t rinse.  I want the starch to thicken the cream.

I always pre-cook my sliced potatoes in the creamy milk because it removes potential trauma of under-cooked and/or curdled Dauphinoise.  I use a mix of milk and double cream because I rarely have single cream in my fridge and it’s become a habit.

And I like a hit of garlic – which I grate in.

I bring the creamy milk to a boil.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

And add the potato slices.  It’s worth putting them in with a bit of care as they can often stick together.  You want each disc to be coated in the creamy mixture.  The cream should just be able to cover the top of the potatoes if you push them down with the back of a spoon.  Over the lowest of low heats, cook until the potatoes are almost cooked.  Mine go into the Simmering Oven of my Aga and I leave them there for 15 minutes.  On a hob, you’ll need to give it a bit of care or it’ll catch on the bottom.

Pour the almost-cooked potato slices into a buttered dish.  Traditionally, you’d be aiming for a 5cm depth.

I’m a real convert to ceramic-coated saucepans for ‘milky’ sauces.  Even so, here’s the bottom of my pan.  If any of the slices have ‘caught’ leave them behind.

Then it’s into the oven.  I use my Aga Baking Oven.  Conventionally, it’s Gas Mark 2/150ºC/300ºF.

For about 45 minutes – 1 hour.  Mine was slightly less than 5cm in depth and took just 30 minutes on the rack at the bottom of the Aga Baking Oven.

Eat.

Dauphinoise Potatoes – Serves 7

• A generous knob of unsalted butter
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and grated
• 100ml/3½oz full fat milk
• 300ml/10fl oz double cream
• 700g/1½lb ‘floury’ potatoes
• Salt and Pepper, to taste.

Pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 2/150ºC/300ºF.

Butter your ovenproof dish.

Peel and evenly slice the potatoes to about 4mm.

Put the cream, milk and grated garlic into a saucepan and bring to a boil over a low heat.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Without rinsing the potato, add the slices to the cream and milk.  Press down.  The potatoes should be just covered.  Bring slowly back to the boil and simmer on the lowest-of-low heat for about 15 minutes until the potatoes are almost cooked.  The starch in the potatoes will thicken the creamy milk.

Transfer to the buttered dish and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour until the top is browned.

Eat.

(Any leftovers can be re-heated at Gas Mark 1/140ºC/275ºF for 40 minutes or so.  Served with a crisp green salad it makes a lovely vegetarian lunch.)

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