Phil's nearly world-famous potato salad

Making a great potato salad is an art. Most commercial potato salads are drenched in mayo, bland and mushy, completely lacking character. For me to indulge in a calorie-heavy potato salad, it better be darned good! I was looking through my library for a great potato salad. I have 57 recipes, and here is the one I chose.

This is a delicate potato salad but with loads of flavours. The bare-essential mayo keeps the salad moist without making it gooey, and the barely blanched beans add a wonderful texture. The mustard adds a bit of heat, and the vinegar brightens up the salad. But the pickled red onions make this salad phenomenal, caramelised, with a hint of sweetness and all the flavour. The perfectly cooked soft 6-minute eggs take it over the top. This is a potato that will be the star on the table. Bright, packed with flavour and loaded with texture, this is a potato salad that's worth the calories.

The Fat Radish was a small neighbourhood restaurant in New York. The intimate, no-fuss, vegetarian-biased menu was highly rated, and it was always filled with young hipsters, along with the occasional superstar. This is another amazing recipe from this cookbook. I have been cooking through this book and am amazed at how delicious each recipe turns out. This book is among my favourites in my collection.

For more recipes from this cookbook, click here.

Ingredients:

For the salad:

1 1/2 baby potatoes, preferably new potatoes

1/2 lb green beans

1 tablespoon whole grain mustard

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

1/4 cup mayonnaise

3 6-minute eggs or poached eggs

1/2 cup pickled red onions, see recipe below

A large handful of mixed herbs like dill, chives, cilantro, parsley or your choice, minced

Freshly ground black pepper, served at the table

For the pickled red onions:

2 teaspoons olive oil

2 red onions, finely sliced

Salt, to taste

1/4 cup red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar

To make the pickled onions, heat the oil on a high flame in a wide frying pan and add the onions. Fry, stirring now and then, until the onions begin to char. Turn down the heat and add the salt and vinegar. Cook for 1 minute till the vinegar evaporates. Transfer to an air-tight box and store in the fridge for about 2 weeks.

Boil the potatoes in a large pot of salted water till soft, but not mushy. Drain and set aside to cool. Peel when cooked and cut into bite-sized pieces if required.

Blanch the beans in hot water for 1-2 minutes till they are just cooked but still retain their crunchiness. Cool in cold water and dice into 1/2 inch pieces. Set aside.

To make the 6-minute eggs, bring a pot of water to a boil with one tablespoon of white wine vinegar. When boiling vigorously, turn down the heat and carefully add the eggs. Bring back to a boil and cook for precisely 6 minutes. Remove and cool the eggs in ice water to prevent further cooking. Peel carefully and set aside.

Mix the mustards, vinegar, and mayonnaise in a small bowl.

To serve, combine the potatoes, beans, and the mayonnaise dressing until well mixed. Transfer the salad to a wide serving bowl and top with the 6-minute eggs that have been broken in half and topped with the pickled onions. Mix it all in at the table and add freshly ground pepper on your plates.