Baby new potatoes pizza

These days, as I see more and more baby new potatoes popping up here and there in the shops, I keep dreaming of the delicious bonnotte de Noirmoutier. The bonnotte is a variety of very small potatoes that grows on the island of Noirmoutier in the region where I am from (Vendée). It is cultivated in a very sandy soil and harvested before it reaches maturity (less than 90 days). It is such a small and delicate potato that it is harvested by hand. There are not a lot of them produced and they can be mainly purchased during the second week of May.
I had the chance to eat it a few times when I was younger but it was very rare. Not only this potato is difficult to get in the shops (it sells really fast) but it is also quite expensive. It now sells for about 6 euro per kilo. The first crop usually goes for auction and it once reached 2,285 euro for a box of 5 kilos!
The rare times I ate bonnotte potatoes, it was only boiled with the skin on and served with a sprinkle of fleur de sel (how handy it is that Noirmoutier also produces a lot of fleur de sel!). Nothing else added! And you would not need anything else, the quality of this potato is such that it melts in your mouth like butter, divine!

Now, I can only keep dreaming about it since I live in Ireland. Not exactly a short drive to Noirmoutier!
But the baby new potatoes you can find around here are very tasty too and they are about the same size. So, if I close my eyes and lie to my olfactory senses a bit, it is pretty much the same.
Over the past few years, I have used new potatoes quite a bit every time I make pizze. I usually make enough pizza dough for six pizze so it is nice to spare some of it for a white sauce base pizza with some delicious potatoes on top. And whenever I make potato pizze for dinner parties, I try not to spend too much time in the kitchen afterwards or else, I will never get a chance to eat some. Honestly, I have seen a lot of my friends devouring it before I had a chance to get a slice. So, it would be a clever thing to cut yourself a slice and hide it somewhere, just saying...
Keep scrolling for the baby new potatoes pizza recipe.

Baby New Potatoes Pizza Recipe (Vegetarian)

Ingredients (makes two medium size pizze or one very large pizza)

500g pizza dough (I make my own using Jamie Oliver's recipe)
400g baby new potatoes (skin on, boiled and sliced)
2 tbsp fresh rosemary
pepper, fleur de sel (or use coarse sea salt if fleur de sel is not available)
plain flour, olive oil (for oiling and dusting)

For the white sauce base
25g butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion (250 to 300g, halved and thinly sliced)
200g creme fraiche
100g grated emmental cheese (you can also use cheddar cheese if you prefer)

1. Line two large baking trays with aluminum foil. Rub the surface with olive oil and dust with plain flour.
Divide the pizza dough into two balls. Dust a large flat surface with the flour. Roll out the doughs into circles (about 5mm thick) and put them on the oiled and dusted foil. Set the trays aside. If you would rather have a very large pizza, use the whole dough in one go (cooking time may vary).

2. Preheat the oven to 220ºC.
Put a large frying pan over a medium heat, add the tablespoon of olive oil and the butter. When the butter has melted and is sizzling, pour in the thin onion slices. Cook for 15 minutes and stir every now and then until the onion has softened and is lightly caramelised.
Pour in the creme fraiche, stir and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the grated cheese, stir well until it has all melted (about 2 minutes). Take the pan off the heat.

3. To assemble the pizze, divide the white sauce between the two rolled out doughs, spread evenly. Line each pizza with the sliced boiled potatoes. Sprinkle the pepper, fleur de sel and fresh rosemary over the potatoes.
Bake the pizze on the top shelf of the oven for 12 to 14 minutes, until the dough is nicely cooked and the pizza topping is lightly golden (cooking time may vary depending on your oven).

Bon appétit!