Potatoes

I love potatoes for their variety of textures and flavours and the way there is perfect versions of them all year round. By last week the Jersey Royals had finished but Booths had some heritage potatoes called Red Duke of York - small, red skinned new potatoes with waxy yellow flesh. I'd never come across them before, apparently they were first found in a Dutch crop of Duke of York (Eeresteling) in 1942 and they have been grown ever since. They make a brilliant salad.

Scrub the skins, halve them and boil till tender. Drain and then, while they are still hot, dress them with a simple vinaigrette - 3 tbspns olive oil, 1 tbspn lemon juice, salt and ground black pepper. Allow them to cool and serve them as a salad. Only make as much as you will eat in one sitting as these don't save well for later meals. We had them with grilled sausages and green salad Saturday night and it was very good indeed.

Because I was roasting a piece of pork Monday night I made roasted potatoes to go with it. I had some Sarpo potatoes, that are bigger than the Duke of York's and more floury. To add more depth to their flavour I roasted them with herbs from the garden - rosemary, thyme and a couple of bay leaves tucked all around with a few crushed whole cloves of garlic. Roast for an hour while the meat is cooking and eat hot from the oven. A perfect accompaniment.