[Gleavo]

Hi

Have tried both boiling and steaming my new potatoes but they take on water too quickly and lose their skins. They are mushed on the outside and hard inside.  Am literally cooking them an hour or so from digging up - do they need to rest for a day or too first ideally? Or any other ideas of how to cook them correctly?

Also I know home grown corgettes only last a day or two but what's the best way to store them before cooking?

Thanks in advance
G

[daisy1990]

Different potatoes will cook differently- do you know the variety? If you have tried fast boiling them for a short time and they are still mushy, I would leave them in the ground, dig them later and use like old potatoes and try a different variety next year.

Courgettes can be stored in a fridge or cool dark place.  If you have a glut you can slice, fry and freeze, part roast and freeze, make soup and freeze or make ratatouille and freeze (or give them to friends!) or leave them to get bigger and stuff with mince/ cheese

[Yorkie]

You forgot 'make chocolate courgette cake and freeze'.  I still have one portion from last year left (though now I've remembered it's there, I don't think it will be there much longer  )

[Growster...]

Hi

Have tried both boiling and steaming my new potatoes but they take on water too quickly and lose their skins. They are mushed on the outside and hard inside.  Am literally cooking them an hour or so from digging up - do they need to rest for a day or too first ideally? Or any other ideas of how to cook them correctly?

Also I know home grown corgettes only last a day or two but what's the best way to store them before cooking?

Thanks in advance
G

Gleavo, we get the same result with 'Pentland Javelin' pots, although, once the skins have dropped away, they have a great texture and flavour!

Cougettes can easily be frozen, but they can't keep a decent shape, so are best in soups etc as a filler later in the year!

[Gleavo]

Fab thanks all will maybe peel the spuds and see how that goes. Will ignore 'can't freeze corgette' advice from other sites and freeze away!

Cheers
G

[Runwell-Steve]

I personally find Arran Pilot to be one of the nicest tasting new potatoes, and they cook easy enough by boiling.

I don't have a problem with storing courgettes as even though I have 8 plants, we can still eat them as fast as I am picking them.

[Yorkie]

 

You manage to keep up with all the produce from 8 plants 

How many battalions are you feeding? 

[sunshineband]

You manage to keep up with all the produce from 8 plants 

How many battalions are you feeding? 

  more than me that's fer shore 

[Gleavo]

Love crogettes got 5 plants and all producing well except one which is my first marrow experiment - bit of indulgence as there's only teo of us and I don't know what we will do with it when I decide to harvest that big boy!

Spuds still doing the same no matter how they are cooked - LOTS of starch. Will try new variety next year - still got the king eddys though!

[jimthejimjim]

Maybe you could try roasting them?

[Kiki]

I was suprised to have this problem with my 1st earlies (lady christl). I got round it by starting them in cold water, bringing them to a simmer for just 6 minutes then turning the heat right down so they finished cooking at a lower temperature. The ones I stored in my frige for 2 weeks cooked ok with fiercer boiling.
Hope that helps.

[arugula]

When new potatoes, or any for that matter, are newly harvested you need to give them some time out in the fresh air if you want them to form skins. This could be your problem, or perhaps just too harsh cooking...

[Growster...]

Maybe you could try roasting them?

We tried just that yesterday Jim, they stay fairly pale, but the flavour and texture was marvellous!

Never tried doing that before, but will again! They had a couple of minutes par-boiling before they went into the pan with olive oil.

[jimthejimjim]

Glad it worked. Try making chips from new potatoes.... Yum yum

[whiskywill]

I dug some potatoes yesterday. They had grown from strays left in by the previous allotment holder, so I don't know the variety, and they were boiled within an hour. Unfortunately they sort of exploded in the pan, so we had crushed new potatoes without having to crush them.