Potato Salad with Fried Capers

Today has been a very good day in the land of Mags.

I found out I passed profs! And so come June next year I'll get to wear that stinky grey wig I've been raving about.

First of all, however, I need to battle my way through the maze also known as the admissions process. Apparently, figuring it all out is harder than profs itself!

I know what you're thinking - results so soon? The results for the last round took about 2 months to come through. This time around they came in less than a week! I guess they know that people are in a hurry to process their admission applications before the Christmas shut down.

The salad I'm posting about today was thrown together for our final exam celebrations on Friday. But in all our celebrations, we never even got to eat the salad! No matter, it made a delicious sunny Saturday lunch for Matt and I.

It's a simple salad really, designed as a bbq side, with a classic combo of new potatoes, olive oil, lemon juice, red onion and herbs. The difference you ask? Fried capers.

Not just any capers.

Fried capers.

If you've never tried capers this way (and even if you don't like capers at all!), try them this way. I promise, you won't be disappointed.

The capers are added to a glug of hot oil in a pan, and fried until they open up like little flowers, and go all crispy. Their salty flavour is mellowed and deepened. And texturally, they are an amazing addition to pretty much anything - leafy salads, on top of eggs, frittatas, tomato sauces, pesto sauces... the list goes on. You may recall me using them in my lemon and caper quesidillas.

Potato Salad with Fried Capers (Serves 6 as a side)


1kg new or gourmet potatoes
1/2 red onion, sliced as thinly as you possibly can. Take your time with this!
1/4c pine nuts
2T capers
Small bunch fennel tips, chopped roughly
Olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper

Get a big pot of water on the boil. Halve or quarter the potatoes depending on their size. You want nice bite sized pieces. When the water is boiling, add the potatoes and set your timer for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, toast the pine nuts in a dry pan. Keep an eye on these bad boys. They will suddenly turn from warm to burnt with little warning signs! When toasted, lift out of the pan and chop roughly, just to help expensive pine nuts go a little further!

Next put a good glug of oil in the pan. When the oil is hot, add the capers. They should sizzle, and start opening up after a minute or two. When they're looking dark and crispy, lift out of the pan and let drain on a paper towel.

Are your potatoes cooked? If so, drain them in a colander. Transfer the potatoes to a large bowl and drizzle the olive oil and lemon juice over the still hot potatoes. Let these cool for 5 or 10 minutes, or if you want, completely.

Just before serving, toss the potatoes with the red onions, pine nuts, capers, fennel tips. Season with salt and pepper. Check the seasoning, and adjust as needed.

Serve immediately, or else the capers and pine nuts may lose their crispy crunchy texture.