Potato and Watercress Salad
- Total Time
- 40 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 1½pounds small red potatoes
- 2bunches watercress
- 1tablespoon Dijon-style mustard
- ⅓cup peanut oil
- 1tablespoon soy sauce
- 2tablespoons red-wine vinegar
- ½teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- ½teaspoon salt
Preparation
- Step 1
Remove and discard eyes and any damaged parts of potatoes, but do not peel them. Rinse well under cold water, place in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring water to a boil over high heat; then, reduce heat to medium. Boil gently until potatoes are tender, 20 to 25 minutes.
- Step 2
Drain any water from the potatoes, and spread them out in a gratin dish to cool. When cool enough to handle, cut the unpeeled potatoes into ½-inch slices. Spread the slices out in a single layer, so they are less likely to break, in the gratin dish.
- Step 3
Trim the watercress stems, removing about 2 inches, and set the trimmings aside for a soup, perhaps. Wash the trimmed watercress and dry thoroughly. There should be about 4 cups.
- Step 4
Mix the remaining ingredients together in a bowl large enough to hold the finished salad. Do not worry if these dressing ingredients separate. The mixture should not be emulsified.
- Step 5
At serving time, add the potatoes and watercress to the dressing in the bowl, and toss lightly but thoroughly. Serve immediately, as the watercress tends to wilt quickly once it is combined with the dressing.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
Worried about crumbling potatoes if accidentally overcooked [I'm easily distracted] I cut them into bite size chunks before cooking. Less time to get distracted; they were fine and produced no overheated fingers. The wife, a straight arrow baked potato with butter fanatic, er, fan, raved about them and claimed the potato salad elevated the whole meal (grilled pork chops and asparagus). I think the peanut butter substitute (2 tsps) in avocado oil elevated this one. Thanks Pat.
You can’t go wrong with Jacques Pépin! I’ve made this twice now. Two recommendations: 1. Carefully pick over and remove stems with roots on them. 2. Squeeze a bit of lemon on top as you serve. Very tasty and easy!
I was out of red wine vinegar & peanut oil, so I substituted apple cider vinegar & evoo. Came out great!
I didn't have peanut oil in my pantry when I decided to make this, but I did have natural unhomogenized creamy peanut butter. Mixing a good sized dollop of this with walnut oil worked very well for the dressing.
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