Party Potatoes

Recently we threw a party to celebrate my partner Laura's 50th birthday. As usual, I made way too much food, but that is purely down to the reason that I love cooking and entertaining and feeding people, especially because it gives me the chance to show of my culinary skills. To experience that warm glow of satisfaction when something I have created makes people happy.

One of the dishes I wheeled out is this one, and it made me so happy this afternoon when one of our friends wrote to me and asked for the recipe because she loved it so much she wants to make it. So flattered was I that I decided to publish my recipe on this here blog. Give it a whirl at your next shindig - it was a big hit at ours.

JEFF'S GERMAN-ISH POTATO SALAD

INGREDIENTS

3lb (1.5 kg) waxy potatoes such as Charlotte, Anya or Jersey Royals
1 bunch celery (with leaves), chopped into 1/2" pieces
2 large onions, roughly chopped
olive oil
minced garlic
salt & pepper
Apple cider vinegar
Wholegrain mustard

DIRECTIONS 

Dice the potatoes into thumb-sized chunks. Parboil the potatoes for 10 minutes, then place into a hot roasting pan with some olive oil and some sprigs of rosemary. Roast for 45 minutes - 1 hour until golden brown and getting crispy.

While the potatoes are in the oven, place the celery and onions in a skillet or large pan with some oil, salt, pepper and minced garlic, and sautee on a medium-low heat until translucent and semi-soft. Add a heaped dessert spoon of wholegrain mustard and a good glug of cider vinegar (about 4 tablespoons), and combine. Let simmer on low heat for a few minutes. When potatoes are done, add them to the celery mixture and toss together. Can be served immediately (traditional) or chilled overnight and served the next day (this is my preferred method as I feel it lets the flavours get happy together.)

Optional: you can cook some chopped bacon with the onions and celery, in which case you need to reduce the salt. I prefer it without the bacon as I feel it overpowers the other ingredients.


Enjoy.