Steam Jersey Royal Potatoes

I’ve bought some Jersey Royal potatoes – we always had these potatoes when I was growing up as my dad was a Jerseyman, so they were compulsory in our house once the season started!  Aldi have Jersey Royal potatoes as part of their Super Six offers from Thursday 11 May to Wednesday 24 May, on offer at 65p for 500 grams.  500 grams is a good sized bag for me, but I usually have to buy 2.5Kg of potatoes to get best value for money.

They weren’t the Jersey Royal potatoes I’d been used to in the past, which had always been loose and still coated in fresh Jersey soil, but I was in the shop, the potatoes were in front of me, the bags were small, so I thought it was the best time to buy some!

Growing up mum’d simply add Jersey Royals to a saucepan of cold water and add some sprigs of mint into the saucepan, then bring the water to the boil and boil them until they were cooked through (roughly 15-18 minutes from boiling point).

But I don’t boil vegetables, nor do I have the use of a hob – so I steamed the Jersey Royals.  I didn’t see any point in splitting the bag up, so I steamed the whole lot in one go – using my microwave steamer.  You can use any steamer you like, I happen to have a microwave steamer – the process is still the same.

How to Steam Jersey Royals in an Electric or Microwave Steamer:

1. I didn’t even wash the potatoes, they were packaged and so “looked clean enough” to me.  If you’re using loose Jerseys then you will need to give them a gentle rinse first.
2. I placed the Jerseys in the steamer and added the right quantity of boiling water from the kettle.
3. I microwaved the potatoes for 4 minutes, then moved them around to different positions.  I then microwaved the potatoes for a further 4 minutes and set the microwave steamer to one side to “rest” for 2-3 minutes before serving.
4. To serve, I added a little butter, coating the potatoes, on the plate.

The pack tells you to steam or boil these potatoes for 15-20 minutes, but in my personal preference 8 minutes’ steaming time plus 2 minutes resting time (still inside the steamer) gave me cooked, firm, potatoes.

How Many Minutes to Steam Jersey Potatoes?

8-10 minutes is usually enough – but it will depend on how many potatoes you are steaming at the same time.  The fewer you are steaming, the quicker they will be.  It’s good to move them around half way through so they all get a chance to cook all the way through.

How to Store Cooked Jersey Royal Potatoes:

Having cooked all the 500 grams of potatoes at once, knowing I’d not be eating them all that day.  To store the cooked Jersey Royals I simply popped them into a lidded pot large enough to hold them (which happened to be an empty margarine tub) – and put that in the fridge.  Covered, they’ll keep nicely for several days.  They won’t become “unsafe” to eat, they’ll just not look as appealing as time passes.

How to Reheat Cooked Jersey Royal Potatoes:

You can reheat the Jersey Royals in the microwave – just 2 minutes on high power (800 watts) should be enough.  Or, you can slice them up and have the potatoes as a cold side dish with a salad.  Jersey Royals can also be pan fried in slices, lovely with a fried egg!

Jersey Potatoes contain 71 calories/100 grams, so this whole pack was 355 calories.  My plan will be to eat these for two meals, although they would easily serve three people and four at a push if you had other side vegetables or were “just trying them”.