Smoked Salmon and New Potato Salad with Lemon Crème Fraîche
- Savory
- Light
- No cook
A cool, no-cook salad of sliced new potatoes and smoked salmon over peppery watercress, dressed in a lemony crème fraîche with capers. Light, fresh and not spicy.
- Total
- 20 min
- Prep 20
- Serves
- 2
- Difficulty
- Easy
You'll practice: Emulsifying · Zesting
Instructions
-
Slice the cooked new potatoes into 1 cm rounds and put them in a mixing bowl.
~5 min
-
Zest the lemon into a small bowl, then squeeze in 1 tbsp lemon juice. Stir in the crème fraîche, olive oil, drained capers, 0.25 tsp salt and 0.25 tsp black pepper until smooth.
~5 min
Stirring the oil into the crème fraîche slowly creates an emulsion, so the dressing turns glossy and clings to the potatoes instead of splitting.
Add the lemon zest only at the end of mixing the dressing. Zesting before juicing keeps the zest from turning bitter in the acid.
Emulsifying Add the oil gradually while stirring so it disperses into tiny droplets; if it looks greasy or split, whisk harder before adding more oil.
Zesting Grate only the yellow outer peel, turning the lemon as you go; the white pith beneath is bitter and spoils the dressing.
-
Spoon half the crème fraîche dressing over the warm potatoes and fold gently to coat.
~2 min
Warm potatoes have open, starchy surfaces that soak up dressing, so they take on more flavour than cold ones would.
Dress the potatoes while they are still slightly warm: they absorb the lemon crème fraîche better and the salad tastes more seasoned.
-
Wash and dry the watercress, discarding any thick stems, and spread it over two plates.
~3 min
Drying the leaves keeps water from pooling on the plate and diluting the dressing once the salad is assembled.
-
Divide the dressed potatoes between the plates. Tear the smoked salmon into strips and lay it over the potatoes.
~3 min
-
Spoon the remaining crème fraîche dressing over the salmon, scatter the remaining capers on top and finish with a little black pepper.
~2 min
