Recipe: Jacques Pepin's French Potato Salad (served warm or room temp.)

JACQUES PEPIN'S FRENCH POTATO SALAD

"Potato salad is perfect picnic fare, but it is a good side dish any time of year, dressed and garnished in various styles to suit the season. Jacques's potato salad is particularly nice for winter meals - the hot potatoes are tossed with white wine and oil, sauteed onions, scallions, and garlic. Serve it warm, with slices of hot, homemade sausage arranged on top, or with other meats."

2 pounds fingerling potatoes or other small waxy potatoes*
1/2 cup or so extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup 1/4-inch slices of scallion, green and white parts
1/2 cup chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, mashed and coarsely chopped (1 1/2 tsp)
1/3 cup white wine
1 1/2 tablespoons Dijon-style mustard
2 to 3 tablespoons chopped chives
2 tablespoons or more coarsely chopped fresh green or purple basil, fresh tarragon, or parsley
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more if needed
1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper (coarse), plus more if needed
FOR SERVING AND GARNISHING:
Large radicchio leaves, about 6, from the outside of the head
1 or 2 hard-boiled eggs, coarsely chopped
Chopped fresh parsley

Scrub the potatoes and put them, whole, in a saucepan with water to cover by 1/2 inch. Bring the water to a boil, reduce the heat, and cook the potatoes gently until they are just tender and can be pierced with a sharp knife. Drain immediately and let cool slightly. (Scrape the skin from the cooked potatoes, if you want, as soon as they can be handled. For a decorative look with fingerlings, scrape off only a band of skin, about 1/2 inch thick, all around the long sides of the potato.)

Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a small saute pan. When hot, add the scallions and the onion, toss to coat well, and cook for about a minute over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, toss to mix, and cook for just a few moments, then remove the pan from the heat.

Slice the potatoes while still warm, cutting them crosswise into 1/2-inch sections. Put the pieces in a large mixing bowl, pour the wine and 3 or 4 tablespoons of olive oil over them, and toss gently to distribute. Add the warm vegetables from the pan, mustard, chives, chopped herbs, salt, and pepper, and gently fold all together, mixing well but not crushing the potatoes. Taste the salad and add more seasonings as you like.

Serve the potatoes warm (no colder than room temperature). Arrange the large radicchio leaves, if you have them, in a close circle on the serving platter, with their curved insides up, to form a rough bowl. Spoon the potato salad inside the leaves, sprinkle chopped egg around the edges, and parsley over the top.

*The best potatoes for salad are the firm-textured, low-starch "waxy" varieties, which hold their shape well, such as boiling potatoes, small new potatoes, or delicate fingerlings. All-purpose potatoes with waxy flesh, such as the versatile Yukon Gold, are particularly delicious. Whatever kind you use, dress the potatoes while they are still warm so that they best absorb the flavors, and gently fold in all the dressing and seasoning ingredients in one or two additions only, so the potato pieces don't get mashed from overhandling.

Makes about 6 cups, serving 4 to 6
Source: Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home by Julia Child and Jacques Pepin