POTATOES, WILD GARLIC

Earthy new potatoes. Mild, sweet garlic. Soothing cream. • If garlic leaves prove evasive, use six cloves of new, wet garlic instead, each clove crushed flat and left in the hot cream for fifteen minutes to infuse, and remove them before you pour the cream over the potatoes. I add pepper too, but not salt, which I already added to the potato cooking water.

Unbalanced

% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Step 1

Scrub the new potatoes, but do not peel them. Either steam them in a colander over boiling water covered with a lid or boil them in lightly salted water. They will need 8–15 minutes depending on their size.

Step 2

Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the garlic leaves and let them cook for a minute or two, turning them in the butter as they soften. Once they have wilted, pour in the cream, then bring to the boil. As the cream starts to boil, remove quickly from the heat, season lightly with pepper, cover and set aside for ten minutes to infuse.

Step 3

Drain the potatoes and put them on a large serving plate. Using the back of a spoon or a potato masher, press firmly down to lightly crush them. Ideally, the skins should be broken and the flesh open enough to take up the dressing, but not so heavily crushed they fall to pieces.

Step 4

Add the lemon juice and zest to the cream, then spoon the softened garlic leaves and sauce over the potatoes, leave for a few minutes for the cream to soak in, and eat whilst still hot.