Inspired by its Germanic roots, this potato salad has a unique difference

This is an oil/broth-based salad, more prevalent in the southern parts of Germany. It’s less heavy and claggy than the mayo variety.

This delicious potato salad has German roots.

Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh & Verena Lochmuller

2 min read

2:01PMOctober 02, 2024.

Updated 11:24AMOctober 04, 2024

The Weekend Australian Magazine

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Growing up in Germany, Verena remembers two camps when it came to potato salad: camp mayo and camp oil/broth. This is an oil/broth-based version, more prevalent in the southern parts of Germany, specifically Swabia and Bavaria. It’s less heavy and claggy than the mayo variety and gets its creaminess from the starch released by the potatoes as they sit for a couple of hours in the warm broth. We’ve strayed from tradition and added some pancetta (because, why not . . . ) and a welcome freshness from some chopped cucumbers.

Try too our spicy chicken thighs and our puttanesca salmon bake.

Lighter than your average potato salad this version eschews mayo.

This is an edited extract from Comfort by Yotam Ottolenghi, Helen Goh, Verena Lochmuller and Tara Wigley. Photography by Jonathan Lovekin

Potato salad

Ingredients

• 500g Pink Fir (or other waxy) potatoes
• 75ml olive oil
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 175ml chicken stock
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• ½ teaspoon black peppercorns, coarsely crushed with a pestle and mortar
• 15g chives (10g finely chopped, and 5g cut into 1½cm lengths)
• 75g diced smoked pancetta
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• ¼ cucumber, sliced lengthways, deseeded and cut into ½cm dice
• Salt

Method

1. Put the potatoes into a medium saucepan for which you have a lid. Add just enough water to cover, salt generously and place on a medium-high heat. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, covered, for 20 to 25 minutes, until just tender. Drain and, once cool enough to handle, remove the skins from the potatoes and slice into ½cm-thick rounds. Set aside in a bowl.
2. Put 2 tablespoons of the oil into a sauté pan and place on a medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 12 to 15 minutes, stirring regularly, until caramelised. Add the garlic and stock, bring to a simmer, then remove from the heat. Add the mustard, vinegar, 1¼ teaspoons of salt, the pepper and another 2 tablespoons of oil. Whisk to combine, then pour the mixture over the potatoes. Mix gently but thoroughly: it will look wet (and some of the potatoes will break up), but this is normal. Set aside for about 2 hours, for the potatoes to soak up about half the broth, and then stir in the chives.
3. Meanwhile, wipe clean the sauté pan and place on a medium-high heat. Add the pancetta, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the pancetta is crispy. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a plate lined with kitchen paper – leaving about 1 tablespoon of the fat in the pan – and set aside. Once cool, finely chop the pancetta into crumbs.
4. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the fat in the pan, along with the paprika. Stir for 30 seconds or so, until fragrant, then remove from the heat. When ready to serve, fold the cucumber into the potato salad and transfer to a serving plate. Scatter over the pancetta crumbs, along with the cut chives. Spoon over the paprika oil and serve.

Serves 3-4