Tangy Vinaigrette Potato Salad (Infused Olive Oil, EVOO, Champagne Vinegar)
/My favorite dressing for a potato salad is a vinagrette made with EVOO, Champagne vinegar, Dijan mustard, honey, salt, and fresh ground pepper. But I have learned that if I substitue some infused olive oil for the EVOO, I can add variety to the same old salad.
The photo below used basil olive oil and slivers of fresh basil leaves. Some of my other favorites are:
Cilantro olive oil and fresh cilantro
Jalapeno garlic olive oil and roasted red peppers
Smoked olive oil and crispy bacon bits
The basic potato salad ingredients are as follows:
Cooked potato cubes. Red or white rose potato cut into bite sized cubes (skin on) and boiled until just fork tender. Drain and rinse in cold water in a collander immediately to stop cooking and then set aside to fully drain and cool. Cook one small to medium sized potato per serving.
Cubed seedless, Persian or baby cucumbers. These are extra crunchy and less watery. Wash and thoroughly dry them. Then cut lengthwise into quarters. Cut across the quarters to create “cubes” about the same size as the potato. Use one medium sized cucumber per every two potatoes
Hard boiled eggs peeled and lightly chopped. I am blessed with friends who raise fresh chickens and provide me farm fresh eggs. If you can get these, you will be blessed too. If not get the freshest free range eggs you can at the market and cook them right away. There are many suggestions about how to hard boil eggs. My “so far” fool proof method is to put the eggs in cool water and let the water heat up slowly to a boil. Boil for about 5 minutes. Then turn off the heat and let the eggs stay in the water until it cools. This has always produced properly cooked easy peel eggs for me. I use one egg per potato cuz my farm raised eggs are small. If you have larger eggs you can cut that by approx. 1/3.
Greens. I always add some lightly chopped greens. Make sure they are washed and thoroughly dry. My favorite is arugula but you can also use spinach or chard. For a salad of 8 servings a couple of handfuls seems to work but feel free to vary to your preference.
Capers and or Green Olives. The addition of capers and or olives is important for extra umami balance and tang. I use enfuso mission olives thinly sliced. About one olive per potato works best. For capers, about 2 tablespoons works for a salad of 8 servings. If you use both, cut back on the amount of each a bit.
Special ingredient. Depending on the flavor of the infused olive oil you use, you add something extra to go along to create the variety like basil (basil olive oil), cilantro (cilantro olive oil), roasted red peppers (jalapeno garlic olive oil) or crispy bacon bits (smoked olive oil).
The basic dressing is as follows:
1/4 cup champagne vinegar
3/4 cup EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
2 tablespoons Dijan mustard
2 tablespoons honey
salt and pepper to taste
To change it up your way, cut the EVOO to 1/4 cup and add 1/2 cup of your selected infused olive oil.
I whisk the ingredients in a small bowl and then put them into a mason jar so I can reshake them as I use up the dressing.
That’s it. You will get many compliments on this potato salad and any leftover dressing will be great on any future salad you make
