This Warm French Potato Salad is also The World's Easiest Potato Salad Recipe

This may be the world's easiest potato salad, but it also may be the world's best. Served warm, it is a sure-fire hit. Before you get cranking, read my article on the Zen of Potatoes.

Recipe

Yield. 8 servings
Preparation time. 30 minutes

Ingredients
2 pounds new potatoes or other waxy potatoes
1/2 teaspoon table salt
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
1/3 cup of your best extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon large-grain salt such as sea salt

Note. Thyme is my fave for this recipe, but it works great with other green herbs such as oregano, chives, green onions, and basil.

Note. You can substitute melted butter if you wish.

Optional. Put a heaping teaspoon of fresh creamy goat cheese on top of each serving.

Method
1) Wash the potato skins thoroughly. If they come good and clean, you can leave them on, otherwise peel them off. Cut the potatoes into 1" chunks and put them in a large pot. Cover them with cold water so they are at least 1" below the surface. Bring to a boil with the cover off, add the salt, and then reduce to a simmer for about 15 minutes until they are tender. Drain.

2) Put the oil and thyme into a large bowl and mix. Add the warm potatoes to the bowl and coat them with the oil. If you are not going to serve them right away you can chill them, but the oil will clump, so bring them to room temp before serving. Just before serving, sprinkle on the sea salt. You can add the salt earlier, but it will dissolve. The taste will be just fine, but if you salt just before serving you'll have some crunch and bursts of salt flavor, sort of like pretzels. Now where's my beer?

This page was revised 10/29/08

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