I bought some new potatoes at the farmers’ market a few days ago, and they are the best. The small, round potatoes were freshly harvested, and the skins scraped off easily. (They are different from the small potatoes typically sold in supermarkets, which are not freshly harvested and do not have skins that can be easily scraped off.) I love the delicate, moist firmness of new potatoes, so I was thrilled to find a hundred-year-old recipe for a classic recipe for creamed new potatoes.
The New Potatoes in Cream were wonderful. The potatoes were coated with a lovely cream sauce and flecked with bits of colorful red potato skin and parsley. I thoroughly enjoyed the new potatoes. I definitely will make this recipe again. New potatoes are such a fleeting summer food. In just a few weeks, I will only be able to buy mature potatoes, and I will need to wait until next year to again get new potatoes
Here is the original recipe for New Potatoes in Cream.
I used red potatoes when making this recipe. The bits of red skin clinging to the potatoes look nice when the potatoes are creamed.
If you don’t know how to scrape potatoes, you might find a post I previously did on how to scrape new potatoes with a knife helpful.
Here is the recipe for Cream Sauce that was in the same cookbook as the potato recipe:
The Cream Sauce recipe is really just a recipe for a basic thin white sauce.
Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:
New Potatoes in Cream
about 1 1/2 pounds small, round new potatoes
water and salt
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
dash red or black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Step 1. Scrape the new potatoes with a knife, then put them in a saucepan and cover with water and add a little salt; boil until the potatoes are tender (about 20-25 minutes), then drain potatoes.
Step 2. In the meantime, melt the butter in another saucepan using medium heat, then stir in the flour. Slowly add the milk, while stirring constantly. Continue stirring and cook until the mixture thickens. Stir in the salt, pepper, and parsley.
Step 3. Add the boiled potatoes to the cream sauce and gently roll the potatoes to coat them with the sauce. Place the potatoes and sauce in the serving dish.
This is very similar to a dish my mom made when I was small…New potatoes and peas creamed. The main difference was that the potatoes were cut into small cubes and cooked with the peas until tender. Then the creaming took place right in the pot by adding a mixture of milk and cornstarch or flour. The only seasonings were salt and ground black pepper.
So simple and delicious looking. Easily made with plant milk too.