Potato salad with celery & olive

My friend who has been studying her undergraduate in Germany said after I posted this salad that this dish is one of the most popular salad in German style. She really loved this salad and often made it at home. I didn’t know about the origin of this dish, however, just like my friend, this salad did make me surprised by its wonderful taste and flavor.

I had some cleansed baby potatoes so I decided to use them in this salad. Making this salad is quite simple once you have all the seasonings which are typical for Western salads in your cupboard. For me it is not so simple. It does take some time for me to gather all Western seasoning ingredients since I spotted one recipe I wanted to do. However, it’s worth the effort.

This salad brings out a dominant creamy taste due the the cooked potatoes and the hard-boiled eggs mashed into the salad. However, the fresh celery and parsley still gives a fresh feeling, plus the olives that create a good texture to the dish.

Ingredients  (serves 6-8)

- 1kg waxy salad potatoes, cleaned

- 1 red, brown or white onion, finely chopped

- 4 celery sticks, finely chopped

- 60-90ml chopped parsley

- 15-20 pimiento-stuffed olives, halved

- 3 hard-boiled eggs, chopped

- 60ml extra virgin olive oil

- 60ml white wine vinegar

- 1-2tbs mild or wholegrain mustard

- celery seeds, to taste (optional)

- 175-250ml mayonnaise

- Salt and ground black pepper

Directions:

- Cook the potatoes in a pan of lightly salted water until tender. Drain, return to the pan and leave to cool and dry a little.

- When the potatoes are cool enough to handle but still warm, cut them inot chunks and place in a salad bowl.

- Sprinkle the potatoes with salt and peper, then add the onion, celery, parsley, olives and the chopped eggs to the salad bowl.

- Combine the olive oil, vinegar, mustard and celery seeds (if using). Pour over the salad and toss to combine thoroughly. Add enough mayonnnaise to bind the salad together. Chill for about 1 hour before serving.