Edible Island: The spuds of summer
By Carolyn Goodwin

Potatoes are best when they’re fresh out of the ground. The newly harvested potatoes you’ll find at the Bainbridge Farmers’ Market have a high sugar and moisture content. They cook more quickly and have a sweet flavor and texture that beats grocery store potatoes cold. They deserve a break from the mayonnaise and mustard treatment.

Potatoes this good really shine when they’re treated simply. Tiny fingerlings are best just boiled or steamed. They slice into neat little coins for potato salads, and hold their shape well. The Yellow Finns, Red Clouds and Carolas are good all-purpose potatoes. German Butterballs are one of my favorites, with tasty golden flesh. All-Blue’s are just that, and they stay true-blue when cooked, which can make for some colorful plates, like this red, white and blue potato salad. I never peel freshly dug local potatoes; their thin skins are tasty and full of nutrients.

Other favorite ways to enjoy these lovely summer tubers are in a cool nicoise salad with grilled tuna (pick up delicious albacore from our vendor Lorraine at Ocean Tuna) or with salmon. As a side dish, you can roast them with herbs; steam or boil them (gently please) and then toss them with chive or parsley butter; or boil them and smash them (much better than all-out mashing for non-starchy potatoes), maybe with a bit of herbed boursin cheese thrown in. Or just add a clove or two of garlic to the water with the potatoes, then smash them all up together.

Recently I enjoyed red fingerling potatoes and fresh little cucumbers in a super-cool summer salad. Another refreshing take on potato salad that makes great use of Port Madison Farm goat cheese is this Farmers' Market Salad with Spiced Goat Cheese  And for a great all-in-one summer grill meal that uses several Farmers Market staples, try this grilled lamb, potato and mushroom salad.

I’ve been reading Barbara Kingsolver’s new non-fiction book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, about her family’s journey back to the land and eating locally. One of the stats she mentions is that “If every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country’s oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week.” Locally grown potatoes are delicious and abundant, and it’s easy to build that meal around them.