Serious Eats: Recipes
Market Baby Potato Salad
Potato salad is sooo not photogenic, so here are the baby potatoes, in their uncooked glory.
There's usually a premium on baby potatoes, but sometimes, if I'm lucky, one of the vendors at my local farmers' market will simply charge a dollar or two a pound for all of their potatoes, big and small. If I'm willing to dig, I can get all the baby potatoes I want for super cheap, giving me the sense that I'm totally getting away with something.
So I figured I'd make some potato salad. The soft-boiled eggs combined with just a touch of mayonnaise and Dijon mustard serve as the creamy base of this potato salad; the cornichons adds tartness; the celery hearts, red onion, and lemon juice bring a variety of tart, bright flavors; and the smoked paprika contributes a rich, smokey component. And everything is better with bacon. Add some fresh herbs to round it out, and you've got a killer market baby potato salad.
If you time it right, you can hustle and get everything chopped up before the potatoes finish cooking. But do yourself a favor and get some slab bacon—pre-sliced bacon is usually too thin to cut into proper lardons.
Market Baby Potato Salad
- makes 4 servings -
Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds baby potatoes, washed*
6 eggs
5 slices thick-cut bacon
Celery hearts from one bunch celery, washed, thinly sliced
1/2 small red onion, finely diced
10 cornichons, thinly sliced
4 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
Fresh chive, minced
Fresh thyme, picked
Vinegar (for soft-boiling eggs)
Salt and pepper, to taste
* Ideally, all of your potatoes will be nice and small. If you have some bigger ones, just cut them up get everything at an even size.
Procedure
1. Start your potatoes in a pot of cold, salted water. Bring to a boil, then simmer till cooked through. Meanwhile:
2. Soft-boil your eggs. Start the eggs in a pot with cold water, a splash of vinegar, and salt. Bring to a boil, then low simmer for four to five minutes. Immediately drain and rinse with cold water. Peel. Dice the eggs.
2a. Eat one of your delicious soft-boiled eggs with a little salt and pepper.
3. Cut your bacon into lardons. Cook on medium heat until nice and crispy. Drain out the fat.
4. Combine everything in a big bowl. Season.