I have 22 tubs / pots of potatoes on the go. Today I harvested the first one. It was a plant of the ever-popular variety "Charlotte". I know these tubers would have grown bigger if I had left them to do so, but I was impatient and keen to see how big they had grown. The yield from one pot turned out to be exactly the right amount for a 2-person helping. It was 350g.
Well, this may not be a large quantity, but they were definitely Class 1 potatoes. Very clean; no scabs at all; a lovely creamy white colour; and the classic kidney shape so characteristic of the Charlotte variety. Incidentally, it has always puzzled me why the variety we know as "Jersey Royals" are officially called "International Kidney" when they are not kidney-shaped!
 |
| Charlotte |
I was in charge of cooking today, and this is what I made: roast Gammon ham, with new potatoes, cauliflower and pickled Red Cabbage. The pickle was my own variation on a well-known theme. We often have quick-pickled onions, but this time I combined them with some Red Cabbage:
All you have to do is slice some onion and Red Cabbage and cover it with vinegar, adding a small quantity of sugar (or Truvia in our case), and leave it to stand for a few hours. After about 6 hours, mine was a lovely texture - slightly softened, but still with a fair bit of "bite" - an amazing colour, and a really zingy flavour. I used a mixture of Malt and Wine vinegar, simply because we hadn't much of either.
My Gammon was just an "ordinary" joint bought from the supermarket, but I livened it up a bit by spreading a generous layer of wholegrain mustard on it before cooking. As the meat cooked, the mustard melted and permeated it.
The skin went almost like crackling, though not as crispy, and the meat inside was moist and succulent.
Here's my whole plateful:- Gammon, potatoes (with loads of butter!), cauliflower, carrots, my Red Cabbage pickle, and a spoonful of home-made Crab Apple jelly.
You will notice that I cut the potatoes in half before cooking them. This stops them splitting, which can often happen with very fresh potatoes. We usually don't do anything fancy with home-grown new potatoes. They are just too good to muck about with!
Looks good.I have some potatoes in containers at home and others planted fairly intensely in wide rows on the allotment.Most are in flower and I'm tempted to start harvesting and eating them.
ReplyDeleteI've been reading your cavolo nero posts as my plants have shot up in the last few days (due to the "bad weather"?).They seem to be fairly early but better to start cutting now rather than let the slugs get a hold.
It looks really delicious. I've only recently discovered gammon again, it's many years since I've cooked it, I don't know why. I've often had potatoes which have split on cooking, that's a great tip about cutting them in half, though the spuds I've grown this year, Arran Pilot, don't seem to be prone to splitting. I always find it difficult to resist the urge of tipping the first of the containers out, probably why I'm already on my second one.
ReplyDeleteLooks great!
ReplyDeleteCan't beat the first potatoes of the year!!
Charlotte potatoes are a great variety and very tasty too and as for your gammon - it looks truly scrumptious - who's a clever boy then.
ReplyDeleteisn't that THE perfect meal... those potatoes... ahhh... I can taste them now, dripping with butter and just a hint of salt... divine... as for that crackling... you big tease!!
ReplyDeleteLooks like a wonderful meal to me. The cabbage is really pretty.
ReplyDeleteMmmmmm...my mouth is watering!
ReplyDeleteAre you already harvesting red cabbage?
ReplyDeleteSue; No, unfortunately not. The Red Cabbage was bought. Mine are a long way from being ready.
Deletepotatoes grown in pots and planters? buggerme, I have never thought. I run a smallish vegetable garden that gives me great satisfaction, yielding a bit of everything. but I've never planted spuds because I've reasoned they would take up too much space. next year I will follow your lead!
ReplyDeleteA very colorful and attractive meal and I'll bet it was as tasty as it was pretty!
ReplyDeleteThe spuds look great. What diameter are your pots Mark? I'm trying to work out how much size impacts on yield.
ReplyDeleteLiz, the pots are 10- or 12-inch ones. Many of them are old containers from pelleted chicken manure, and these are 10 inches in diameter and 10 inches tall. They seem ideal for one seed tuber each and I get good results from them.
DeleteLooks great, did the potatoes ever bloom? Mine still have not. The second to last picture is really outstanding!
ReplyDeleteDavid, Yes, most of the potatoes have produced some flowers. That's normally how I judge if they are sufficiently mature to be worth harvesting. If I have the patience, I leave them until the foliage has withered too - in which case I get a bigger yield.
DeleteLovely, lovely, lovely. What a satisfying meal to sit down to. Pretty new potatoes.
ReplyDeleteThose potatoes look perfect! I have to try making the pickled red cabbage. It looks and sounds delicious! As always, the photos of your prepared meals leave me salivating onto my keyboard...
ReplyDeleteGreat post!