Potato, Egg & Green Bean Salad

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In the summer months, my mother always cooked extra potatoes so that she could make us a delicious potato salad to enjoy on hot summer days.  I can remember her patiently standing at the counter peeling the potatoes, cutting them into small cubes. They would go into a bowl along with some cubed cucumber, chopped celery, chopped onions and chopped hard boiled egg . . .  and some seasoning of course.  She folded in a creamy dressing, made using Kraft Salad Dressing, and sprinkled  the top with paprika. We loved it. We thought it was just perfect.

She didn’t have to fancy it up in any way.  We were happy with it just as it is.  I don’t think it ever occurred to any of us that you could also dress salad with a vinaigrette dressing.   I love creamy potato salads, but I also love potato salads with a vinaigrette dressing.  I might even love them a tiny bit more.

When you dress potato salads with a vinaigrette salad while the potatoes are still quite warm, they absorb some of the dressing which imparts a lovely flavour to the potatoes, it doesn’t just coat them. 

In fact, in my regular potato salad  that I make (with a mayo dressing) I have always dressed the potatoes with a preliminary French vinaigrette, letting them cool in it before I add anything else at all.  I learnt this trick from the late Marion Cunningham in the Fanny Farmer cookery book.  It makes for a really delicious potato salad with lots of flavour.  Sharing this recipe just below . . .

*Potato Salad*
Serves 6

Printable Recipe

This is my favourite way to make a mayonnaise based potato salad.  It is perfect in my opinion, with just enough mayo and lots of flavour.  The flavour of the potato really shines through.

8 medium sized new potatoes, unpeeled
the juice of one small lemon
1/4 cup of vegetable oil (2 fluid ounces)

fine sea salt to taste
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 stalks of celery, washed, trimmed and chopped
1/2 cup of  cubed cucumber (peel, remove the seeds and chop
into 1/2 inch dice)
4 hard boiled eggs, chopped into 1/2 inch dice
2 TBS finely chopped onion
1 to 1 1/4 cups of mayonnaise
3 TBS cider vinegar
1 tsp sugar

To garnish:
finely chopped fresh chives
ground paprika

Boil the potatoes in lightly salted water, until tender just to the fork.  Drain well and as soon as you can handle them, peel and cut them into 1/2 inch dice.  Toss in a bowl along with the lemon juice, chopped onions,  oil and salt to taste.  This preliminary dressing while very warm gives the potatoes extra flavour and coats them.  This prevents them from absorbing too much mayonnaise later on.  Allow to cool.

Add the black pepper, celery, chopped eggs and cucumber.  Blend 1 cup of the mayonnaise with the vinegar and the sugar.    Pour this over the potato salad, gently folding until all pieces are coated.  Add the remaining mayonnaise only if the salad seems dry.  Taste and adjust the seasoning as required.  Spoon into a clean bowl and chill, covered. 

Just before serving, sprinkle with some chopped fresh chives and ground paprika.  Delicious!!

Its a really great, great potato salad.  If you are looking for something a tad bit more interesting however,  I totally recommend this recipe I am sharing today.

Fork tender new potatoes, crispy tender fresh green beans, semi hard boiled eggs . . .  just in between hard and soft, so that some of the yolk is just a bit coddled . . . it mixes in with the vinaigrette when you are tossing it all together . . . creating an almost creaminess  . . .

The dressing a simple emulsification of Chinese rice wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil and a mix of herbs and seasonings  . . .

Finely chopped fresh dill leaves . . .  so good with both potatoes and green beans, and yes, even egg . . .

Mild onion flavours from the use of finely snipped chives . . .  and earthy green flavours from the use of fresh parsley . . . 

I put my dill and parsley into a tall narrow glass and snip them with the tips of my kitchen shears.  They work perfectly at getting them to the right size without making a mess.  The chives, I just hold in a bundle and snip into small bits over the bowl.  Again, with my kitchen shears.  Easy peasy.

I do add a touch of sugar to the dressing, just to take away from the sharpness of the vinegar.  There is also some heat from a good Dijon mustard, and of course . . .  some salt and black pepper.

Altogether this makes for a really great potato salad . . .  colourful . . .  crunchy . . .  creamy and quite delicious!!!

Serves 6

A fresh, flavourful potato salad with plenty of colour, texture and a fabulously light and tasty Dijon Herb Vinaigrette dressing.

3 TBS rice wine vinegar

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 clove garlic, peeled and minced

1 tsp caster sugar

1 tsp salt, divided

120ml extra virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/2 TBS minced fresh dill leaves

1 TBS finely snipped fresh chives

1 TBS  minced fresh parsley

1/2 pound fresh fine green beans, topped and tailed

1 1/2 pounds smallish new potatoes

3 medium hard boiled eggs

Parsley to garnish

To make the dressing, put all of the dressing ingredients (1/2 tsp salt) into a glass jar and shake to emulsify.  Taste and adjust seasoning as required. Set aside.

We enjoyed this with some grilled fish and a plate of sliced tomatoes and cucumbers.  We didn’t need anything else.  It was magnificent.  Bon Appetit!