Potato Radish Salad

The key to an excellent potato and vinaigrette salad, as I've learned, is to toss the dressing with the potatoes just after cooking to let the flavours penetrate while they're still warm. The result is a bite of potato that you can savour throughout, without a plain and dull starchy interior.

And what makes this easy and vibrant potato radish salad really tick is a potent mustard-based vinaigrette that penetrates the potato as well as the palette. Use the most pungent coarse grain mustard you can find to give this salad a kick that will make your guests ignore whatever else is on the menu. I made the dressing with an odd but unforgettable Balsamic and Cracked Black Pepper Mustard from an Ontario company called Mrs. McGarrigle's that a friend of mine found in a mustard shop in Ottawa!

This salad lasted only minutes when served, but part of the reason for that was perhaps my nibbling on the dressed potatoes before they were tossed with the last ingredients and put on the table — that's just how good they were.

Potato radish salad

Salad:

1 pound new or fingerling potatoes, with skins
1 bunch radishes, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons fresh chives, chopped

Dressing:

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons coarse grain mustard
1 teaspoon honey, softened
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
fresh ground black pepper to taste

Boil the potatoes until just tender, only 5 to 10 minutes depending on the size of the potatoes. Drain and cut any larger than mouthful potatoes into bite-sized chunks. Return to the still hot saucepan.

Whisk together the dressing ingredients and mix thoroughly with the potatoes. Let stand at room temperature for at least one hour, tossing periodically to distribute the vinaigrette while the potatoes are cooling.

Mix in the radishes and chives and serve. Chill if desired. Serves 4.

This is my submission to Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this week by Wandering Chopsticks.