A superb salmon dish to bring out the best in the new crop of Jersey Royals

When cooking Jersey Royals, says our kitchen garden cook Melanie Johnson, there's one thing to remember: 'The delicate flavour of Jersey Royals is perfectly paired with butter, butter and more butter.'

So while you whip up the salmon dish below, make sure you have some quality butter on hand for the new crop of potatoes which have started to appear.

And if you find you've run out of butter? Melanie has an alternative: 'Parboil Jersey Royals for about 10–12 minutes, then use a fork to squash them down, and add them to a roasting tray,' she says. 'Drizzle over olive oil and toss to coat them. Roast for 20 minutes, then season generously and serve.'

Recipe: Mascarpone salmon with steamed Jersey Royals

Ingredients

Serves 4

• A splash of olive oil
• 4 salmon fillets
• 2 shallots, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, grated
• 1tbspn plain flour
• 400ml vegetable stock
• 100g mascarpone
• 50g baby spinach
• 150g sun-dried tomatoes
• ½ lemon, juice of
• 30g Parmesan, grated
• A handful fresh basil leaves
• 1kg Jersey Royals
• 30g butter
• 2tbspn chopped chives

Method

Heat a large frying pan and add a splash of olive oil, followed by the salmon fillets. Brown them on both sides and set aside. Reduce the heat and add the shallots, cook to soften them and then add the garlic for a minute. Sprinkle over the flour and mix it in to create a paste.

Pour in the stock, mix it with the paste and then add the mascarpone. Return the salmon to the pan to cook through and add the spinach, stirring it through the sauce to make it wilt.

Add the sun-dried tomatoes, a squeeze of lemon, Parmesan, seasoning and end with a final scattering of basil leaves.

Place the Jersey Royals in a steamer and cook until a cutlery knife meets no resistance when pushed through. Spoon them onto a serving bowl, dollop on the butter and sprinkle with chives.

Serve the salmon with these simplest yet most perfect Jersey Royals.

Credit: Alamy

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Tom Parker-Bowles on the king of potatoes, the Jersey Royal

Whether boiled and slathered with butter or fried then served with crab mayonnaise, the Jersey Royal is alwys delicious.