As Jersey Royals reach their peak season (April–July), please see below a selection of four delicious recipes that celebrate these iconic potatoes at their freshest—two created by Michelin-starred chef Will Holland, and two by Mark Jordan, one of Jersey’s best-known chefs and the former Michelin-starred Executive Chef of The Atlantic Hotel.
With their delicate skins, naturally nutty flavour and protected status, Jersey Royals are one of the UK’s most prized seasonal ingredients – available for just a few months each year. These refined, spring-ready dishes keep the focus on Jersey Royals and are perfect for timely, highly seasonal food content.jerseyroyals.co.uk
Jersey Royal Pearls with Chive Beurre Blanc, Lardo, and Caviar by Will Holland
Serves 4
Ingredients
60 Jersey Royal pearls, thoroughly washed
1 strip Fresh seaweed
50g Shallot, finely chopped
100ml Dry white wine
100ml White wine vinegar
50ml Jersey double cream
150g Unsalted Jersey butter, diced, cold
1 bunch Chives, finely chopped
100g Lardo, finely diced
30g Exmoor caviar
Fresh rosemary flowers, to garnish
Method
- Place the Jersey Royal pearls in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Add a large pinch of Jersey sea salt and the fresh seaweed. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes or until cooked.
- In a separate pan, combine the shallot, wine and vinegar. Place over a high heat and boil until the liquid has reduced by half. Add the cream and return to the boil. Add the cold butter, one piece at a time, whisking continuously until all the butter has been incorporated into an emulsified sauce. Season to taste with Jersey sea salt.
- Gently fold the cooked Jersey Royal pearls and chives through the beurre blanc until evenly coated. Divide among serving dishes, then scatter with the diced lardo. Carefully spoon the Exmoor caviar over the top and finish with fresh rosemary flowers.
Jersey Royal Velouté with Smoked Egg Yolk, Summer Vegetables, and Pea Shoots by Will Holland
Serves 4
Ingredients
75g Unsalted Jersey butter
175g Onion, roughly chopped
1 clove Garlic, roughly chopped
500g Jersey Royals, thoroughly washed and roughly chopped
3 sprigs Fresh thyme
1 Fresh bay leaf
1 strip Fresh seaweed
1L Jersey whole milk
350ml Smoked oil
4 Large free-range eggs
12 Jersey Royal pearls, blanched
12 English asparagus spears, blanched
1 Cucumber, peeled and melon balled
1 handful Freshly podded peas, blanched
1 handful Freshly podded broad beans, blanched
4 Radishes, thinly sliced
20 Pea shoots
Method
- Place the butter, onion and garlic in a saucepan over a medium heat and sweat until soft with absolutely no colour. Add the Jersey Royals, thyme, bay leaf, seaweed and milk and gently simmer for 15 minutes or until the Jersey Royals are soft and completely cooked. Remove the thyme, bay leaf and seaweed before blending the soup in a liquidiser until smooth. Season to taste with Jersey sea salt.
- Place the smoked oil in a container and place it somewhere warm to bring the oil to around 55°C. Crack the eggs and carefully separate the yolks. Place the yolks in the smoked oil for 30 minutes. Carefully lift out the yolks and season with Jersey sea salt and freshly milled black pepper.
- Place an egg yolk in the centre of each serving dish. Arrange the asparagus, cucumber, peas, broad beans, sliced radishes and the pea shoots around the yolk. Present the velouté separately in individual jugs, allowing guests to pour it at the table for an elegant finish.
Mark Jordan – Jersey royal and poached lobster salad with mango and passion fruit dressing and tempura of the claw
Ingredients
Lobster
4x400g medium sized lobster cooked and shelled
Mango and passion fruit dressing
3 passion fruit
200ml mango purée
1 whole mango peeled and diced
Method
- Cut the passion fruit into halves and scrap out all the seeds into a bowl
- Peel the mango and dice into medium size dice
- Pour the mango purée into the same bowl and mix together place to one side
Mark Jordan – Pan roasted jersey Dover sole with crushed jersey royals and sauce Grenoble
Ingredients
4 large Dover sole
Sauce Grenoble
100g gherkins
100g capers
100g caper berries
Lemon juice
Chopped chives
Crushed jersey royals
450g jersey royals
50g butter
Juice of a lemon
Salt
Chopped chives
Method
Dover soles
- Fillet the sole by running a sharp knife down either side of the sole back bone and gradually remove the fillets with gentle strokes of the knife remove all 4 fillet off both side of the fish. Neaten up the fillets by cutting any straggly pieces of skin off the fillets.
- Lay one fillet of sole on a chopping board and you can see there is a thick end and a thin end to the fillets, place another fillet the other way on top of the first fillet but this time thick piece on top of the thin end replicate this until you have all 8 fillets stacked on top of each other. Secure the stack with cocktail sticks roll onto the flat side and trim the excess ends and cut in the middle to leave two nice sole stacks repeat this process for the other two fish and place into the fridge to relax.
Sauce Grenoble
1.Chop the gherkins into smallish dice and mix with the caper’s add the lemon juice and chives and place to one side
Crushed jersey royals
- Wash the jersey royals to remove any excess soil and place in a pan of salted water and gently bring them to a nice simmer until cooked
- Once cooked remove the potatoes from the water and using a fork gently crush the potatoes
- Add the lemon juice salt and chives and re cover the pan with a lid to keep warm
Cooking and serving
- Remove the sole stacks from the fridge and pre heat a sauté pan, add a little oil and place the sole stacks into the oil and gently cook until golden brown on one side at this point flip them over and place into a pre heated oven at 180 degrees
- Place a metal ring into the centres of 4 bowl plates and into that place a good amount of the crushed jersey royals and remove the ring
- Remove the sole from the oven and gently remove the sole stacks from the sauté pan and place on a chopping board. Place the sauté pan back onto the heat and add the caper and gherkin mix along with the extra butter. Adjust the seasoning with salt
- Gently twist each cocktail stick and at the same time gently pull them out and sit the sole stacks on the potato’s rings
- Spoon the sack Grenoble all over the sole stacks and garnish with pea shoots and the caper berries cut in half and serve
Jersey royal potato salad
200g cooked jersey royals
3 tablespoons fresh mayonnaise
Chopped chives
Lemon juice
Seasoning
Method
- Cook the jersey royals unsalted boiling water until cooked, remove from the water and cool
- Cut the potatoes into nice even dice
- Mix the mayonnaise with the diced potatoes and add the lemon juice and chopped chives
- Season the mix with salt and gently mic together without freaking up the potato dice
Tempura batter
200g tempura flour
Sparkling water
Pick bicarbonate soda
Method
1.In a bowl add the tempura flour
2.Add the pinch of bicarbonate of soda and mix
3.Gently add the sparkling water to create a nice batter consistency
To garnish
Caviar optional
Pea shoots
To serve
- Using a palette knife make 4 swipes of mango purée in the centre of each plate
- Cut each lobster tail into two even pieces and place onto the mango drags
- Along side that quenelle with two teaspoons the potato salad
- Take the lobster claws and completely dip them into the tempura batter and gently deep fry in a fryer until light golden brown
- Remove the claws from the fryer and trim the base so that the claws can stand on end in the middle of the lobster plates
- Spoon around the lobster the diced mango dressing
- Garnish with fresh pea shoots and the optional caviar
- Serve straight away