Potato salad with chives and crème fraîche

Taken from "VEG: simple, stylish and seasonal vegetarian cooking" by Catherine Mason (Pauntley Press, 2001, ISBN: 0-9534879-2-8, price £12.99)
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This is a very simple and very delicious potato salad. Like all very simple recipes the outcome depends almost entirely on the quality of the ingredients, so get the best potatoes you can find. If you grow or can buy unusual salad varieties such as Pink Fir Apple or Ratte this is a lovely way to serve them.

• 450 g (1 lb) small salad potatoes, washed but not peeled, and left whole
• 3 spring onions, thinly sliced, including some green, or 1 shallot, peeled and very finely chopped
• 100 g (3½ oz) crème fraîche
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• about 15 g (½ oz) fresh chives or other herbs (see variations below)

Steam or boil the potatoes in salted water until tender but not disintegrating. The choice of cooking method really depends on the potato variety – some tend to fall apart if boiled, so steam if you're not sure how a particular spud will behave.

Stir the spring onions or shallots into the crème fraîche, and add the hot, drained potatoes. Stir very gently to coat them, season with salt and pepper to taste, then allow the salad to cool.

Add the clean, dry, sliced chives just before serving. Although it is usually served cold, I like this salad when it's still slightly warm – it certainly shouldn't be chilled.

VARIATION

Substitute another green herb (tarragon, mint, basil, lovage, dill, etc.) for the chives, depending on what you're serving with the salad.

SERVES 2-3

Recipe copyright © 2001 Catherine Mason | other sample recipes