Jacques's French Potato Salad By Julia Child and Jacques Pépin
This salad is light and clean, full of fresh herbs. A wonderful accompaniment to all sorts of summer fare.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs fingerling potatoes, baby potatoes or other small waxy potatoes
- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ cup ¼-inch slices of scallions green and white parts
- ½ cup sweet onion chopped
- 3 cloves garlic mashed and coarsely chopped (1½ tsp)
- ⅓ cup dry white wine
- 1½ tbsp Dijon-style mustard
- 2-3 tbsp chives chopped
- 2 tbsp (or more) fresh green or purple basil coarsely chopped
- 2 tbsp (or more) fresh tarragon coarsely chopped
- 2 tbsp (or more) parsley coarsely chopped
- 1 tsp kosher salt plus more if needed
- ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper (coarse) plus more if needed
Garnish
- 6 large radicchio leaves from the outside of the head
- 1-2 hard-boiled eggs coarsely chopped
- fresh parsley chopped
Instructions
- Scrub the potatoes and put them, whole, in a saucepan with water to cover by ½-inch. Bring the water to a boil, reduce the heat, and cook the potatoes gently until they are just tender and can be pierced with a sharp knife. Drain immediately and let cool slightly. (Scrape the skin from the cooked potatoes, if. you want, as soon as they can be handled. For a decorative look with fingerlings, scrape off only a band of skin, about ½-inch thick, all around the long sides of the potato.)
- Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a small sauté pan. When hot, add the scallions and the onion, toss to coat well, and cook for about a minute over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, toss to mix, and cook for just a few moments, then remove the pan from the heat.
- Slice the potatoes while still warm, cutting them crosswise into ½-inch sections. Put the pieces in a large mixing bowl, pour the wine and 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil over them, and toss gently to distribute. Add the warm vegetables from the pan, mustard, chives, chopped herbs, salt and pepper, and gently fold all together, mixing well but not crushing the potatoes. Taste the salad and add more seasoning as you like.
- Serve the potatoes warm (no colder than room temperature). Arrange the large radicchio leaves, if you have them, in a close circle on the serving platter, with their curved insides up, to a form a rough bowl. Spoon the potato salad inside the leaves. Sprinkle chopped egg around the edges, and parsley over the top.