Grove of Narberth x Blas y Tir Pembrokeshire Earlies

Introduction:

We’re delighted to celebrate our iconic Pembrokeshire Earlies with this exclusive, tantalising recipe! Created for us by the talented Grove of Narberth Head Chef, Douglas Balish.

Ingredients:

For the potatoes

• • 500 g Blas y Tir Pembrokeshire Earlies
  • 3 litres of cold water
  • 180 g table salt
  • 10g dried Pembrokeshire kombu from Câr-y-Môr

For the laverbread butter

• • 50 g softened salted butter (Shirgar)
  • 50 g laverbread

Garnish

• 100 g white crab meat from Câr-y-Môr
• 30 g crème fraiche
• Spring onion (optional)
• Trout roe (optional)
• Cooked kombu (optional)

Method

1. Firstly make the laverbread butter by combining the laverbread and the salted butter, once this is made you can keep in the fridge or even freeze until needed. It’s great on eggs, meat and fish.
2. Mix the crab meat with the crème fraiche and a pinch of salt then return to the fridge.
3. Wash the potatoes under cold water and then add to a large sauce pan.
4. Add the 3 litres of water, table salt and the kombu. It may seem like a lot of salt but that’s the key to bringing out the best of the potato, it should have a mild saltiness once they are cooked.
5. Bring the water to the boil on a high heat then reduce to a simmer, the cooking time will depend on the size of the potato and temperature of the water.
6. Keep an eye on them from around 8 minutes onwards by testing with a small knife. There should be a small amount of resistance when nearly cooked.
7. I like to remove the pan from the heat and let the potato finish cooking in the seaweed water. Remove the kombu seaweed and cut into strips, we will use this to garnish the dish.
8. To serve, cut the potatoes into quarters and keep warm, add the laver bread butter to the potatoes and coat evenly.
9. These make a delicious vegetarian side dish but I like them with the added luxury of Pembrokeshire white crab meat from Câr-y-Môr.
10. Add the crab meat mix over the top of the potatoes and garnish with some chopped cooked kombu, trout roe and spring onions.

Top Tip

Tip: great with a cold glass of Pembrokeshire sparkling wine from Velfrey Vineyard!

You can find more delicious recipes by Douglas on his Instagram page. Discover the luxury country house hotel, Grove of Narberth, here.