the businesswoman's kitchen

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Is there any surprise in a potato salad? Yes: you may add Mediterranean herbs for a delicious summer & holiday flavour…

I made this potato salad rather spontaneously because suddenly all the rainy weather in Germany cleared up & sun came back w/ fine temperatures fit for some last BBQ events in the garden.

…& a real bit potato salad is always one of the best companions around (together w/ some green salad & baked vegetables…) for any meat feast.

Let’s start – best a day before our anticipated BBQ!

We need a lot of potatoes, Mediterranean herbs & the usual suspects…

…so there are:

• potatoes: baby potatoes if available (which unfortunately didn’t work out for me…)
• sprigs of rosemary
• olive oil & olive oil w/ balsamic vinegar
• cornichons
• spring onions
• chives
• thyme leaves
• eggs (hard-boiled)
• mayonnaise (70%)
• sour cream (20%).

The potatoes will be thoroughly cleaned in fresh cool water; they end up in pieces of 2-3 cm (about 1 cm thick). If you happen to lay hands on baby potatoes just cut them in halves.

Don’t forget to preheat your often to 180 °C w/ fan.

Take a deep baking tray & line it w/ baking parchment. (It’s easier to clean up afterwards!) Place the rosemary in the tray.

Mix the potato pieces thoroughly w/ olive oil & salt & pepper. Dump them in the baking tray above the rosemary. Let them roast for about 30 min in the oven (you’ll need not turn them over!) – voilà!

Now we’ve got soft & crispy potatoes – hot potatoes w/ intrinsic rosemary flavour!

In the meantime while the potatoes are roasted we chop the cornichons & the spring onions & mix all together w/ the olive oil & the balsamic vinegar. Some salt & pepper may be fine, too.

When the potatoes are out of the oven they are very hot – wait about 5 min. Then mix the hot (no longer „very hot“!) potatoes w/ the flavoring & let the mess cool down to room temperature.

Attention:
It’s important to mix the flavoring into the hot potatoes to make sure that the overall typical potato salad flavour may spread & penetrate into the potatoes.

In the meantime… we’ve boiled the eggs to get hard-boiled eggs. We’ve chopped the thyme leaves & the chives. We cut the eggs w/ an egg slicer once lengthwise & once crosswise.

(Well: we may also add more Mediterranean fresh herbs like oregano, marjoram, basil… it mainly depends which herbs are sitting on your window sill or in your garden…)

Fold in everything w/ the mayonnaise & the sour cream & let the dressing rest in the fridge until further use.

As soon as the potatoes have cooled down we add the dressing to the potatoes!

…& we’ve got the salad!

We can move the mess into a fine clean bowl…

…& we can start decorating…

Print Recipe

a big potato salad w/ mediterranean touch

Is there any surprise in a potato salad? Yes: you may add Mediterranean herbs for a delicious summer & holiday flavour...

Prep Time40 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

ingredients:

for the potatoes:

• 1000 g waxy potatoes w/ skin
• 2 sprigs of rosemary
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• salt & pepper

for the flavoring:

• 4 spring onions
• 150 g cornichons
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

for the dressing:

• 4 eggs
• 100 g mayonnaise 70%
• 100 g sour cream 20%
• 1 tbsp very finely chopped fresh thyme
• 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh chives
• salt & pepper

for decoration:

• chives optional
• tomatoes optional

how to:

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C w/ fan.
• Clean the potatoes & cut off any bad spots, but don’t peel them.
• Cut the potatoes bite-sized pieces.
• Add olive oil & salt & pepper & mix well - all potato pieces should be covered w/ olive oil.
• Line a deep baking tray w/ baking parchment.
• Add the rosemary.
• Add the potatoes.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 30 min.
• Let the potatoes cool for about 10 min.
• Discard the rosemary.
• While the potatoes are in the oven: chop spring onions & cornichons.
• Mix both w/ olive oil & balsamic vinegar.
• If the potatoes have done their 10 min rest mix hot potatoes & the spring onion-cornichon mix & let it cool completely.
• In the meantime boil the eggs until very well done.
• Peel them & cut them w/ help of an egg slicer (use the egg slicer twice for each egg!).
• Add mayonnaise & sour cream & mix well.
• Add salt & pepper.
• Add thyme & chives - save some chives for decoration.
• Store the dressing in the fridge.
• If the potato mix is at room temperature add the dressing & mix well.
• Optional: use chopped chives & tomatoes for decoration.

Notes

Prep Time: Includes the preparation of the potatoes, the flavoring & the dressing as well as the combination into the salad. Any cooling times are not included.

Cook Time: It’s the potatoes in the oven.

It’s up to 8 servings if the potato salad goes as a side salad together w/ other options (like pasta salad etc.). If it's the main side dish it’s more 4 - 6 servings.

Potatoes: I recommend using baby potatoes (in Germany: „Drillinge“) which are about 35 mm long at most. You just cut them in halves. If you use larger potatoes cut them in pieces like 2-3 cm long & about 1 cm in diameter. Don’t peel them - the skin is rather soft. 30 min in the oven are fine for these potato pieces; if you use smaller pieces the potatoes may be ready in shorter time - watch out.

Flavouring: It is important to add the flavoring (spring onions, cornichons, olive oil, balsamic vinegar) when the potatoes are still hot.

Mediterranean herbs: I had rosemary w/ the potatoes & thyme leaves w/ the dressing. Of course you may add other herbs like oregano, marjoram or basil.

Mayonnaise: You may also use mayonnaise w/ 80% - don’t go less than 50% fat.

Mayonnaise & sour cream mix: You may use only mayonnaise, you may only use sour cream... If you plan to leave your potato salad in summer heat for some hours e. g. during a BBQ event I recommend to use mayonnaise only. (In this case you shouldn't use any home-made mayonnaise w/ fresh eggs etc.!) If you are sure that your potato salad won’t survive more than few hours & the temperatures are moderate you may use only sour cream.

Store the potato salad in the fridge; keep in mind that the flavour develop their full power at room temperature.

In the fridge you may store the potato salad for 2-3 days.

The potatoes are skin-on & somewhat chunky: therefore the salad is a little brownish – it’s the right salad for a hearty BBQ.

I mixed mayonnaise w/ sour cream because it cares for a fresh feeling on the tongue. If it is very hot outside & you plan to offer the salad outside – meaning the salad will linger about for some hours – I recommend to use only mayonnaise for the sake of stability. Otherwise if it’s not soooo hot outside & you know that the salad will vanish rather soon you may use only sour cream…

A fresh addition – by the way – is fresh cucumber thinly sliced, salted, squeezed & folded in the salad just before serving.

The businesswoman w/ too many office hours thinks

So: once the potatoes are cleaned & cut & in the oven there’s no need to care for them any longer. I can mix the flavoring & the dressing & put all in the fridge for later use. Overall it isn’t such a lot of work – let’s suppose that the potatoes are rather clean from the very beginning…

I think I can easily double the ingredients for a much bigger potato salad for a big BBQ fiesta – should be working.