Raclette with GreenVale Farm Fresh Potatoes

When I heard from GreenVale Farm Fresh, the first thing that popped into my mind was Postman Pat - he lives in the fictional village of Greendale ! - but no, this was nothing to do with bags of mail or black and white cats. They wanted me to try out a bag of their spuds, marketed as ‘tasty, all rounder potatoes’ using the Jelly variety of potato. The press release explained : "They have a delicious, creamy buttery taste, a lovely yellow flesh and are great boiled, roasted, baked, mashed or chipped - in fact, they’re so versatile, you can use them for all your potato needs. GreenVale Farm Fresh also come in an old style paper potato sack (2kg) that are more environmentally friendly and keep the potatoes fresher for longer."

I was very impressed with how clean and healthy they look - there were absolutely no eyes, green or black bits, in fact nothing at all dodgy-looking that needed peeling or slicing off. They're also pre-washed so you don't have to get covered in mud as you wash/peel them ! The second thing that really appealed to me was the size - they're perfect for baked potatoes so would be ideal if you want to knock some of those up for Bonfire Night.

As the cold weather hit this weekend and it was a really foul Sunday with gale force winds and lashings of rain, we decided to go for a fab French winter dish : raclette. Not only is it really warming comfort food, the raclette grill warms up the house as you eat ! I boiled the GreenVale Farm Fresh Potatoes without peeling or chopping them and we were impressed at how well they retained their texture, not going soggy or falling apart. Once cooked through, they were popped on top of the raclette grill which gave them a lovely crispy skin.

A potato sliced on the plate, served with salad, tomatoes, pickles and smoked meats, all drizzled in melted raclette cheese - yum !

Raclette is a really fun family meal too because the kids always love melting the cheese in the little paddles and pouring it on their potatoes and meat !

To use up the leftover cooked potatoes, I fried them in a little olive oil and served them with fishfingers for the kids for tea, which also worked really well. Potatoes can sometimes be quite bland, but we did find that these ones had a lovely flavour.

star rating : 5/5

RRP : £2.50 for 2kg

available from Tesco nationwide and from Booths in the North East

for more information : http://www.greenvalefarmfresh.co.uk

Disclosure : I received some potatoes in order to try them out and write an honest review.

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Madhouse recipe : Twice-baked potatoes

Madhouse recipe : Potato and Courgette Lasagne

Slow Cooker Recipe : Greek-Style Lamb, Potato & Thyme Kleftiko