New Potato Cake

New Potato Cake

With an Omelette, Frittata, Tortilla vibe!

New Potatoes are a characterful bunch, dug before the skin thickens and while the starch is low gives a sweet waxy spud perfect for summer recipes and alfresco dining. With many varieties can turn their had to being ‘new’ there are those that excel, charlotte, anja orpink fir among the most popular for their flavour and texture. 

A baked omelette brings holiday memories from around the Mediterranean rushing back, served at room temperature or cold with crunchy vegetables, a piquant sauce or just a good dollop of mayonnaise! 

This recipe brings three of my favourite unsung summer heroes together. New potatoes with their nutty sweetness, fennel in all its forms has that unmistakable bitter sweet floral hit and fresh onions with their tops still green and juicy have a deliciously fresh acidity. All together a harmonious concoction. 


Serves 4
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
600g new potatoes
6 eggs
1 fresh onion with tops
A small handful of fennel tops or herb (wild or cultivated)
A thumb of butter
Sea salt flakes
A few shavings of nutmeg
Fresh ground white pepper

Preheat oven to 170°C

1. Wash the new potatoes to remove the worst of the mud but not too hard as their delicate skin is easily rubbed away! Then cut length ways and across into 1cm thick half moons. Cook until only just tender in simmering water before draining and leaving to steam dry for a few minutes. 

2. Lightly beat a half dozen eggs with salt pepper and a few shavings of nutmeg. Then finely slice the onion bulb and roughly slice the tops and fennel.

3. Mix the potatoes, onion and fennel into the seasoned egg. Leave this for a few minutes to mingle. 

4. Lightly butter a 20cm round glass or baking dish and pour the mixture in. Bake in the preheated oven for around 30 minutes or until the centre is soft to the touch and there is no liquid. 

5. Remove from the oven and cool before serving to give it time to set.

Serve with blackened French bean and mint salad, and a zingy roast tomato ketchup. 




Chef Notes:
1. Cutting the potato into slightly thicker half moons almost locked them together in the baking dish, leaving little pockets of herby egg.
2. Fennel tops and wild fennel share a common flavour profile but are poles apart, tops being mild and the wild variety very punchy. Throughout August both are easy to get hold of, the tops with the bulbs and wild is an easy forage with its distinctive aroma when rubbed between finger and thumb. Towards the end of the season wild fennel begins to flower with bright yellow buds loaded with pollen. These are delicious!
3. White pepper has a distinctive flavour compared to black or green, a warmer less floral heat, almost woody. A great partner to fats and starch laden ingredients. 

Robin Popham
Chef at ‘Create Terroir’ and Sandy Lane Farm veg box customer