Natoora and Pesto New Potatoes

Recently, I was lucky enough to receive an absolute bounty of fruit and vegetables from the kind people at Natoora.  Natoora is an online grocers that specialises in sourcing and providing the best quality foods and groceries and delivering them directly to your door.  They are driven by a passion for top quality, fresh, seasonal food and it is that drive and dedication that has led them to supply some of the best restaurants in the country including The Greenhouse and The River Cafe.

With a focus on food as a pleasure and joy, rather than just fuel, the people at Natoora go out of their way to find the finest quality produce and suppliers in England, France and Italy.  This means that you can buy organic, hand reared meats, ripe and juicy strawberries and saffron risotto rice direct from England, France and Italy, all at the click of a button.  I received their spring taster box which was jam packed with delicious looking and fragrant fruit and vegetables.  My haul included:

Jersey Royal New Potatoes

Thin tipped Asparagus

Purple Asparagus

Camone Tomatoes

A huge bunch of basil

Fresh peas

Strawberries from Marsala

Loquats

The quality of the fruit and vegetables I received was unbelievable.  I cannot expound enough on the intensity and savour of my spring box and oh, the options and inspiration it produced.  I immediately set to podding the peas and have to hold up my hands and say that I managed to eat most of them before they got to the bowl!  I love fresh peas and, had I the self control; I probably would have kept them raw, fried a little streaky, smoked bacon until crisp then cooked a vat of gluten free spaghetti and added the bacon, peas and a little lemon zest with a dribbling of the cooking water to keep the spaghetti fluid.  Delicious.  The tomatoes and two types of asparagus I set aside in lieu of making a Superfood Salad: roasted lemon and olive oil asparagus, diced tomato, alfalfa sprouts, chives, cooked and sliced beetroot, a few tablespoons of cooked quinoa, toasted pine nuts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds and barely steamed broccoli makes for the ultimate in salads.  It gives you energy, sustenance and tastes utterly divine; it’s the kind of salad empires (friendly, whole foods, peace loving empires I might add!) were built on and I love making a big batch of it and then slowly working my way through it throughout the week.

The recipe that I have chosen to make for you is an absolute favourite of mine.  Pesto Potato Salad sounds incredibly simple and well, it is, but no less appetising for it, in fact I would go to say that its simplicity is its secret weapon.  With so few ingredients the flavours stand proud and demand to be noticed, and when you are using fresh, high quality and seasonal ingredients it makes sense to keep the fuss to a minimum and let the food do the talking.  I love this pesto; by toasting the pine nuts first it takes on a little of the nutty, intensity of parmesan cheese and lends the pesto a superior flavour that means that you just want to put it with everything.  It works superbly when spread on rye bread, or stirred in to pasta or rice; I use it as a filling for stuffed peppers (with mushrooms and cherry tomatoes) or with a little added olive oil as a dressing for salads.  The options are endless but my favourite means of use is to add it to steaming hot new potatoes, especially when they are the Rolls Royce of new potatoes; jersey royals.  Because of their straight from the heat temperature, the potatoes suck up the pesto so that when bitten into, their tender, creamy flesh yields a porous layer of nutty, salty, basil pesto.  Heaven.

PESTO NEW POTATOES

Serves 4

100g/4oz pine nuts

A large bunch of basil

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

A pinch of sea salt flakes

450g/1lb new potatoes

Preheat the oven to 200c (180c Fan).  Toast the pine nuts on a baking tray until they are golden.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool down.

Combine the toasted pine nuts, fresh basil, salt and olive oil in a food processor and blitz until the mixture is a smooth pesto puree.  Season to taste and add a little more olive oil if you think it’s necessary.

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and add the new potatoes – a tip worth knowing is to always add new potatoes to boiling water whereas old potatoes should always be placed in the water when cold and then brought to the boil - cook until completely tender to a knife point.  Drain and, while hot, fold in the fresh pesto and serve.

Comments

[Rev Stan]

Another lovely recipe. I get a weekly delivery of fruit and veg from Abel & Cole. It certainly makes you more inventive. I'm currently working out how I can use up a lot of green cabbage. At the moment it's going to be cabbage and bacon soup for the freezer unless I can think of something else I can make in bulk and freeze...

[The Intolerant Gourmet]

Hi Rev Stan, thanks for your comment. Cabbage can be a bit of a pain, unless you just love eating it steamed! I think the soup sounds great but I also found this brilliant Nigella recipe ( http://ow.ly/1STaZ ) for a Thai Salad and I would definitely make a batch of it and probably throw in some extra crayfish or prawns, when in doubt look to Nigella!! Hope this helps.

[anne]

love this with the potatoes a real winner and great for my next picnic

[Katherine (Natoora)]

What a delicious recipe - I love how you worked your magic with our potatoes :) That superfood salad sounds absolutely amazing too!