French Herb Potato Salad

Before I begin, I'd like to also give a quick reminder that this is the last day of my giveaway. Hope you'll join me, I'll be picking the winner tonight, and will announce it tomorrow. Check it out here:

So for Labour Day Weekend, my friends hosted a BBQ, which they held in their fantastic backyard since the weather was great. It was a perfect day. Swimming, our closest friends, wine, food and a campfire to top it off. So along with some store bought wine and pasta  salad, I decided to make something very Mediterranean. Ina Garten's French Potato Salad. The way I see it, if there's someone you're going to turn to for a recipe like potato salad, you cannot go wrong with the Barefoot Contessa. While she is not a qualified chef, her recipes are only fantastic. This recipe was great, I just wanted to eat more and more of it. But of course I didn't, because that wouldn't be very Mediterranean of me, would it?

So here's the recipe:

• 1 pound small white boiling potatoes
• 1 pound small red boiling potatoes
• 2 tablespoons good dry white wine
• 2 tablespoons chicken stock
• 3 tablespoons Champagne vinegar  (couldn't find it, so I used white wine vinegar)
• 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 10 tablespoons good olive oil
• 1/4 cup minced scallions (white and green parts)
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh dill
• 2 tablespoons minced flat-leaf parsley
• 2 tablespoons julienned fresh basil leaves

So essentially, this was a pretty quick recipe to make. I washed and boiled the potatoes whole for about 25 minutes (they suggested 20-30) until you can feel they are ready with a fork. It also said to steam them afterwards for 10 minutes, but my potatoes were fully cooked. If I cooked them a minute longer they would have been overdone. 

While they were boiling, I chopped up all of my herbs and put them in a bowl. I was a little iffy about the 

combination of dill and basil, but with everything else it was just perfect. Sort of pickley.

So after that, I let them cool and quartered or halved my potato depending on their size. The strange part is that next, you're to mix in the chicken stock and wine. I did it, and it sort of makes sense, since potatoes soak up liquid when they're hot. It just made them extra tasty. I whisked together the vinegrette by drizzling in the olive oil to the mustard, vinegar, and half the salt and pepper. Actually I forgot to mention I didn't have any kosher or sea salt, so I ended up using about half the amount of regular old table salt. Don't forget, it's a much more concentrated flavour, so you don't need as much. I mixed the vinegrette, herbs and remaining s & p into the potatoes,  and ended up with this great, fresh tasting salad. As I suspected I didn't need ALL the vinegrette, but I suggest you make it as directed for the first time like I did, and then judge for yourself. 

Enjoy!

Have a great day!