Ingredients for Haddock Potato Salad
Serves 6. Preparation: 20 minutes. Cooking: 20 minutes.
- 1 kg potatoes
- 2 carrots
- 6 small red shallots
- 250 g haddock
- 15 cl apple cider vinegar
- 10 cl white wine
- 30 cl rapeseed (canola) oil
- 60 g fresh salted sea lettuce
- Fleur de sel
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
Steps: from warm potatoes to plating
- Cook the whole potatoes for about twenty minutes, until a knife blade slides in easily. While still hot, peel them, cut into wedges and immediately sprinkle with the white wine. Cover with plastic wrap so they gently absorb the wine as they cool; they take on flavor best while warm.
- Meanwhile, slice the carrots into very thin rounds (about 2 mm). Blanch them for a few seconds in simmering salted water, then shock them in a bowl of ice water to fix their bright color and crisp texture.
- Finely chop the small red shallots. Remove the skin from the haddock and cut it into thin strips.
- Whisk a lively vinaigrette from the rapeseed oil, apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper. Toss the warm, wine-scented potatoes with the carrots and some rinsed, chopped sea lettuce. Taste and adjust seasoning.
- Arrange the salad on a large platter, lay the haddock and shallots on top, scatter the remaining sea lettuce and finish with a pinch of fleur de sel.
Why pour white wine over warm potatoes?
The moment they leave the water is crucial. A still-hot potato is porous and absorbs the white wine like a sponge, allowing the flavor to penetrate to the center. A cold potato would only hold the wine on the surface. Covering them while they cool locks in the aroma and helps preserve a silky texture.
The carrots are blanched only briefly and then plunged into ice water to preserve their vivid color and crunch, which contrast nicely with the soft potatoes. The sea lettuce brings a salty, maritime note that complements the smoked haddock. This interplay of warm and cool elements, and of land and sea flavors, keeps the salad lively and far from the flatness of a mayonnaise-based version.