Potato salad

This potato salad uses all the elements we have on hand to make a light and bright salad: our Cornersmith mustard and pickles, plus left-over pickling liquid for the dressing. If you find you don’t have quite enough pickling liquid, you can top up to the required amount with a good-quality white wine vinegar. For a heartier version of this salad, add some pan-fried speck or bacon and mix a little mayo into the dressing.

Credit: Cornersmith

• serves

  4

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  30 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) boiling potatoes, such as dutch cream or nicola, scrubbed
• 2–4 shallots, thinly sliced
• 270 ml (9½ fl oz) pickling liquid from the pickles (see below)
• 145 ml (4¾ fl oz) olive oil
• 2 tsp dijon mustard
• 2 tsp large handfuls mixed herb sprigs, such as dill, tarragon and parsley
• 4–6 radishes, very thinly sliced
• 130 g (4½ oz/1 cup) drained bread and butter cucumber pickles, or other pickles
• 1–2 Lebanese (short) cucumbers, thinly sliced

Marinating time 30 minutes

Instructions

Put the unpeeled potatoes in a saucepan and cover with salted cold water. Cover with a lid, bring to the boil and simmer for 25–30 minutes until tender. Drain well, then leave to cool. (This can be done the day before, if you like.)

Thickly slice the potatoes and mix with the shallots. Bring 200 ml (7 fl oz) of the pickling liquid to the boil in a small saucepan, then pour over the potatoes and shallots. Season with salt and pepper, drizzle with a tablespoon of the olive oil and mix well. Leave to marinate for at least 30 minutes, or overnight in the fridge if that’s more convenient.

For the dressing, combine the remaining pickling liquid and olive oil with the mustard in a screw-top jar. Season with salt and pepper, then put the lid on the jar and shake well to emulsify. 

Tear the herbs into smaller pieces and put into a large bowl. Add the potato mixture, radishes, pickles and fresh cucumber. Pour over the dressing and gently toss everything to combine. Place the salad in a serving bowl or on plates and serve straightaway.

Recipe and image from Cornersmith: Recipes from the Café and Picklery by Alex Elliott-Howery and James Grant (Murdoch Books, $49.99, hbk).

View our Readable feasts review and more recipes from the book here.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.