🍽️ Cuisine
Jersey Royals with Butter
Heritage New Potatoes
Ingredients: 400g Jersey Royal potatoes (or finest new potatoes available), 40g Jersey butter (or best quality salted butter), Fresh mint leaves, Flaky sea salt.
Preparation: Gently wash potatoes, leaving the flaky skin intact. Place in a pot of cold, salted water. Bring to a gentle boil and simmer 15-20 minutes until tender when pierced with a knife—timing depends on size. The potatoes should be just cooked, not falling apart. Drain well and return to the warm pot to steam dry for a minute. Transfer to a warm serving bowl. Add butter in pieces—it will melt into the hot potatoes. Toss gently to coat. Scatter fresh mint leaves and a generous pinch of flaky salt. Serve immediately as a side dish, or enjoy as a simple lunch with just more butter and salt. These need nothing else.
💡 True Jersey Royals are only available April through June. At other times, use the best new potatoes you can find, but know the experience won't quite match.
Spider Crab Gratin
Baked Crab with Cheese
Ingredients: 250g spider crab meat (or other crab), 30g butter, 20g flour, 200ml Jersey milk (or full-fat milk), 50g Gruyère cheese (grated), 30g breadcrumbs, 15ml dry sherry, 5g Dijon mustard, Pinch of cayenne, Salt and white pepper, Cleaned crab shells for serving (optional).
Preparation: Pick through crab meat to remove any shell fragments. Melt butter in a saucepan, whisk in flour and cook 1 minute. Gradually add milk, whisking constantly to prevent lumps. Simmer until sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in sherry, mustard, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Fold in crab meat gently. Divide mixture between two cleaned crab shells or ramekins. Mix grated cheese with breadcrumbs and scatter over the tops. Bake at 200°C for 15-20 minutes until golden and bubbling. If tops aren't browned enough, finish briefly under the broiler. Serve immediately with crusty bread and lemon wedges.
💡 Spider crab has sweeter, more delicate meat than brown crab. Ask your fishmonger to dress the crabs and save the shells cleaned for you to use.
Jersey Wonders
Traditional Fried Pastries
Ingredients: 200g flour, 50g sugar, 50g Jersey butter (softened), 2 eggs, 2g nutmeg, Pinch of salt, Zest of 1 lemon, Oil for deep frying, Caster sugar for dusting.
Preparation: Mix flour, sugar, nutmeg, and salt. Rub in butter until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add eggs and lemon zest, mix to form a soft dough. Knead briefly until smooth. Wrap and rest 30 minutes. Roll dough to 5mm thickness. Cut into strips about 12cm x 4cm. Make a slit lengthwise in the center of each strip, leaving ends attached. Thread one end through the slit and pull through to create the traditional twisted figure-8 shape. Heat oil to 180°C. Fry wonders 2-3 at a time until golden brown on both sides, about 2-3 minutes total. The twist should open up as they fry. Drain on paper towels and dust generously with caster sugar while still warm. Best eaten fresh.
💡 Don't overwork the dough or the wonders will be tough. The twist is traditional but they taste just as good cut into simple strips if you find the shaping tricky.
