Fingerlings Vinaigrette with sieved eggs and pickled celery

I know. Just the title is enough to scare off any sensible, dinner on the table in 30 minutes, kind of person. But it is basically just a layered potato salad. With a few semi-fancy garnishes. 

Fingerling potatoes are a bit expensive. Well compared to other potatoes. In our grocery stores, they are about $2 per pound. And when russets are often 40 cents a pound, it is hard for me to spend that much on special potatoes. So I just don't. I buy salt potatoes. Apparently these are a regional thing, indigenous to the Syracuse area. You get a four pound bag for $4, which means I can get two meals out of them. Much more reasonable. So I really don't know how this tastes with fingerling potatoes. But with salt potatoes, it is splendid. 

Just a side note: Salt potatoes are thin skinned potatoes, scrubbed clean  and cooked in a 1/4 pound (?) of salt per pot of water. After boiling, you toss them with butter. The skin sort of explodes in a salty, buttery way when you bite them, making you glad you live where you can buy these regularly. 

The sieved eggs. I thought this was weird and pointless sounding, but it is worth the few minutes time. The eggs become fluffy and light and rather un-hard boiled egg like. 

You push them through the sieve, yolk part first, since this is somehow easier than if you did it white part first. I didn't do one backward, so I really don't know if this is true or not. 

Someone told me a long time ago that this was the easiest way to peel hard boiled eggs, and it is. The curvature of the spoon is the same as the curvature of the egg, making it perfect for slipping under the shell and breaking off large chunks. 

The pickled celery and vinaigrette. Well my versions thereof. The pickled celery was fine. Justin and I weren't in love. It wasn't gross, but I am not sure it was worth the little bit of time that it takes. And I didn't have a shallot, so I just used some red onion and a garlic clove.

Quarter the potatoes (or halve them if you are using fingerlings). Drizzle with vinaigrette. 

Top with sieved eggs and bacon. Yes, this is a teensy bit like a breakfast hash. But it has a vinaigrette, so much more sophisticated than regular potatoes, eggs, and bacon.

And then sprinkle with pickled celery and cilantro. Because cilantro is good and you should sprinkle it on everything that doesn't move. 

Recipe as Smitten Kitchen intended it to be written

fingerlings vinaigrette with sieved eggs and pickled celery

Pickled Celery

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

1/4 cup water

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 1/2 tsp sugar

2 stalks celery, thinly sliced on an angle

Whisk the first four ingredients. Add celery. Set aside for about an hour in the fridge. Or longer. According to smitten kitchen, these only get better with age. Maybe ours weren't old enough. 

Vinaigrette

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoons whole grain mustard

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons white wine vinegar

1 small shallot, minced

Whisk together. 

I do not have whole grain mustard. (Not entirely sure what it is.) So I just used regular old French's mustard for both the mustards. I know. Lame. But it works fine!

Salad

1 pound fingerling potatoes, boiled until fork tender/fully cooked

2 large eggs, hard boiled, cut into quarters

crumbled bacon

minced fresh herbs

few tufts of frisee or arugula leaves (optional)

Halve fingerlings (or cut potatoes until more managable size). Arrange on plate, cut side up. Drizzle the vinaigrette generously on top. Press each chunk of egg through a mesh sieve, yolk part first so that all the fingerlings are coated with tufts of egg. Garnish as desired.

Almost all of this can be made ahead of time and assembled rather quickly. I use potatoes made the night before, eggs hard boiled sometime that day, whisk up the vinaigrette, crisp the bacon, and arrange away. 15 minutes tops. It is lovely warm or cold. Lately, it has hit the spot as a light spring dinner. And it has the added benefit of being a beautiful left-over breakfast.