In the mood for a side dish that's not heavy with butter and/or cream? Pommes De Terre A L'Huile (French Potato Salad -- sliced potatoes in oil and vinegar dressing) will fit right in. This was a very simple dish to make and I was able to prepare it at the same time I was preparing two other dishes, another side dish and an entree. Only one minor mishap along the way and dinner was actually served with all three dishes ready at a reasonable time!
The first thing I needed to do was to give a good scrubbing to a couple of pounds of potatoes. Julia points out that the potatoes need to be a good boiling potato so that they don't turn all mushy or crumbly when cooked. I've become a fan of red potatoes and yellow potatoes for dishes such as this and this time used yellow potatoes. Pretty straightforward beginning with about 2 pounds of potatoes being put into a big pot of boiling water. My first question was, "How do I know when the potatoes are done?" Julia tells me that they're done when the potatoes are just tender enough to be pierced with a small knife. Elizabeth (my sweet sous chef and wife) told me I should use a fork. I think she told me that out of safety concerns -- I'm pretty sure she feels much safer the less she sees me running around with a knife in my hands. I need to point out, however, that I have not cut or even nicked myself since starting on this cooking adventure!
While the potatoes were boiling I was able to prepare the dressing. Another simple recipe (what a nice change! Much easier than trussing a chicken!!). A tablespoon of wine vinegar and a tablespoon of lemon juice (freshly squeezed by hand because we happened to have some lemons laying around) were mixed together with a teaspoon of prepared mustard. A dash of salt was added and everything was mixed with a whisk until the salt crystals were all dissolved.
This is a good point to mention something on a related note regarding my use of kitchen utensils. Elizabeth has told me that she doesn't want me using her utensils when I'm cooking but tonight this was a whisk I was willing to take. Hahahahahahaha, I really crack me up sometimes. That wasn't true but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to share that awesome pun. Back to cooking...
Once the salt was dissolved I was able to begin adding olive oil. Drop by drop I added 6 tablespoons of olive oil while beating the mixture to thoroughly blend everything together. About this time the potatoes were finished and drained. I cooled them with cold water, and a little ice, so that I could begin peeling them as soon as they were cool enough to touch. Since I was making a dinner for our whole family I even had some extra sous chefs helping out with the potato peeling (thanks Rachel, Elizabeth, and Everlie!). The boiled potatoes were peeled, sliced into 1/8" thick slices and placed in a large mixing bowl.
In the mixing bowl I was able to do the "fancy" stuff..and make a teeny mess. Julia calls for white wine but I chose to use white grape juice for the next part -- 4 tablespoons of grape juice were poured over the sliced potatoes and tossed gently to coat the potatoes. After letting the potatoes absorb the juice for a couple of minutes the dressing mixture was poured over the potato slices. Here's the fun part -- tossing the potatoes. The potatoes are tossed with the dressing mixture, not stirred, so that the potatoes are broken up and made mushy.
Just like tossing an omelette or items in a frying pan, you need to have confidence that it will work! When you are in the flipping/tossing process you must not doubt yourself. You must have faith. Once you start the motion you must fully commit or chances are you'll end in failure. Well, I must not have been completely committed on one of my tosses because I had a little dressing and a couple of slices sort of miss the bowl when they came back down. The toss was really good but the catch was a bit off. It would have been a good time to have a puppy around to handle the cleanup... I provided unedited photographic proof down below that it was only a little mess and not a major catastrophe!
I think the tossing part was just added to make this simple recipe seem a bit more complicated. Some chopped parsley was added to the potatoes and, with a couple more little tosses, it was done. 6 adults and two young granddaughters enjoyed eating this as part of our dinner so it seems like it tasted pretty good. Some even had seconds! We found it a refreshing change with the vinagrette type of dressing that was used. Julia did say that mayonnaise can be folded into the potatoes "if you wish." As an experiment we did add some mayonnaise to some of the leftovers and found it to be very tasty as well.
I like them both ways and, not only can the dressing be done two ways, this potato salad can be served either warm or cold. A delicious side dish that we enjoyed making and eating. I hope you'll try this some day. Let me know how your tossing skills worked out!
Bon Appetit!
Tasted delicious. The you have to commit when you toss was funny when a splotch ended up on the floor.