I never realized how important potatoes were to me until I moved to the other side of the world and realized potatoes just weren’t the same here as they are in Ireland. I am not sure why – I guess the soil is different, the climate is different, there are different varieties etc. The point is, potatoes over here just don’t taste as good to me as our famous Irish spuds. This year we decided to grow our own, and they actually taste almost like Irish potatoes. I grew four different varieties, so I can figure out which one I like best. It’s been so great having our own potatoes this summer and they make the best potato salads ever.
I think it’s important to use a nice waxy potato, and not too much mayo or dressing. I like potato salads that aren’t too gloopy. For the dressing I use a combination of a classic French dressing and a little mayonnaise. The dressing is a touch tart, which works well with new potatoes. For this recipe, I added some hard boiled eggs, some hot smoked salmon, fresh chives and dill. It makes more of a meal out of the potato salad, and is almost like a deconstructed summer fish pie.
It turns out though it’s not only me that’s partial to potatoes and potato salad. Recently a man called Zack Brown started a Kickstarter campaign to fund the making of a potato salad. It was intended as a joke of course, but he went onto raise over $55,000 for his potato salad. It seems people really like potato salad! This potato salad below is also up for sale, and if you would like me to make it for you, bids start at $55,000 😉 … or you can make it yourself, here’s how:
Ingredients
Serves 2
Dressing
- 1/2 teaspoon of grain mustard
- 1 teaspoon of white wine vinegar / white balsamic vinegar
- 3 teaspoons of olive oil
- 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise
- Pepper and salt, to taste
- 1 heaped teaspoon of freshly chopped chives
Salad
- 6 small new potatoes, cooked and cooled (Fingerling/ Yukon Gold )
- 2 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and quartered
- Fresh dill / fresh fennel as a garnish
- Hot smoked salmon chopped into bite size pieces – You could also use hot smoked trout/ mackerel
Method
- To make the dressing, mix the mustard, vinegar, oil and mayonnaise together in a bowl using a fork or hand whisk. Or place the ingredients into a screw top jar and with the lid securely on, shake well.
- Taste, and season with salt, pepper and the fresh chives.
- Chop the new potatoes into small bite size chunks and place in a serving dish. I like to leave the skin on new potatoes, but you can peel them if you prefer.
- Pour the dressing over the potatoes and mix together.
- Arrange the salmon pieces and the hard boiled eggs in the serving bowl with the potato salad.
- Garnish with some fresh dill or fresh fennel.
