Image from Cook’s Illustrated.
(Recipe based on Cook’s Illustrated’s “French Potato Salad with Dijon Mustard and Fines Herbs” July 2002)
Ingredients:
- 2 pounds of medium sized or small New Potatoes
- 2 or 3 cloves of Garlic
- ¼ cup of Olive Oil (divided)
- Kosher Salt
- Maldon’s Sea Salt (optional)
- 1½ Tbsps Whole Grain Mustard
- 2 Tbsps of Honey Vinegar (preferably Quaker Acres Apiaries) or cider, or white wine vinegar
- 1 medium sized Sweet Onion
Tarragon, Parsley, Fennel Frowns, Chives or Dill, or any combination of these
Directions:
- Add the garlic cloves to a mortar and pestle along with a generous pinch of Morton’s Sea Salt, or other coarse salt, and grind to a paste. After a few minutes add approximately one tablespoon of olive oil and continue to grind. (If you do not have a mortar and pestle you can follow the same you can grind the garlic and a pinch of salt on a cutting board with the flat side of your knife until a paste forms.)
- Add your garlic paste, the remaining olive oil, vinegar and whole grain mustard to a small jar with a tight fitting lid. Shake all the ingredients until it emulsifies into a vinaigrette. Set aside.
- Bring a large pot of water of generously salted water to a boil. Wash and slice the potatoes about ¼ of an inch thick and add them to the pot. Cook until just tender testing with a fork. (5 to 10 minutes). Retain a portion of your cooking water to add to the vinaigrette. Placed drained potatoes in a large bowl.
- Add a couple of tablespoons of the cooking water to the vinaigrette and give it another shake. Add the vinaigrette to the potatoes in the bowl and toss. Next, turn the potatoes onto a cookie sheet, and space out to allow them to cool slightly and flash off some moisture.
- Slice the onion in half pole-to-pole, then set the flat side on the board, and slice as thinly as possible. Dice the herbs. Return the slightly cooled potatoes to the bowls and add the sliced onion and herbs and toss together and serve.