My sister used to live and tend bees (lots of them) in Quebec with a Quebecois man. He grew up in a farmhouse in the countryside, and while he was (still is) a college-educated biologist, Pierrot spoke both French and English with a heavy Quebec accent (still does). They had a big garden and grew lots of their own food.
When I visited them in July one year, Pierrot was rolling the tiniest potatoes I'd ever seen in butter in a pan on their beautiful old wood cookstove. He said they were les petits grêlons. My sister said the word meant hailstones. The little hailstones.
Freshly dug potatoes are swoon-worthy enough. But little hailstones smaller than a ping-pong ball? Truly heavenly. So when I saw a box of new potatoes (really new) of various sizes at my local farm stand this week, I had to root around and pick out a bagful of grêlons.
Because they are tiny, they are a little more work to scrub (no need in the world to peel), but it's worth it and they barely need cooking. We had some leftover salmon, and mushrooms and a pepper that needed using up, plus fresh herbs in the garden, so I made a great side dish. But seriously? I could have eaten just the potatoes for dinner!
Sauteed Hailstones
Ingredients
Olive oil
4 cups tiny potatoes, scrubbed
1 onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced,
12 ounces mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
Butter
2 cloves garlic, pressed
Fresh basil, parsley, and rosemary, minced
Directions
Cut larger potatoes in half. Steam all in microwave until tender, for about eight minutes.
Heat olive oil in cast iron skillet.
Sautee onion and green pepper until mostly tender.
Add mushrooms until wilted and remove to a bowl.
Add a chunk of butter, potatoes, and garlic and and heat until warm. Add herbs and season with salt and pepper.
Combine with other veggies and serve hot.
We enjoyed it with a piece of salmon, a green salad, and a glass of white wine!
Readers: What's your favorite way to enjoy new potatoes? I'd love to send one of you an audiobook code for Nacho Average Murder!
My next book is my alter-ego's Taken Too Soon, the sixth Quaker Midwife (written by Edith Maxwell), up for preorder now!
In this book, releasing September 8, midwife Rose Carroll travels to Cape Cod with her freshly minted husband on a modest honeymoon - which turns into an investigation into the murder of her aunt's ward.
Following on its coattails is Candy Slain Murder, the eighth Country Store mystery - also up for preorder and releasing September 29. You guessed it, the story takes place at Christmas, with Robbie Jordan back in South Lick, Indiana. She digs into the mysterious skeleton of a woman who went missing a decade earlier, and then the woman's twin's murder nearly right in front of Robbie's eyes.
Isn't that a fun cover! You'll be hearing more here about the recipes in the back.
I hope you'll visit Edith Maxwell and me on our web site, sign up for our monthly newsletter, visit us on social media, and check our all our books and short stories.
Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell) is a talented amateur chef and holds a PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University. An Agatha Award-winning and bestselling author, she is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and also writes award-winning short crime fiction. She lives with her beau north of Boston, where she’s currently working on her next mystery when she isn’t cooking up something delectable in the kitchen.
