Potato and smoked salmon salad with bagel chips

With smoked salmon, baked bagel chips and nuggets of herb-coated cream cheese, this takes potato salad to the next level.

Potato salad with smoked salmon Credit: Mary Makes It Easy / Geoff George

• serves

  4

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  20 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 1 kg (2.2 lb) mini potatoes
• Kosher salt
• 1 savoury bagel (see Note)
• 3 tsp (15 ml) olive oil
• Freshly ground black pepper
• ¾ cup (180 ml) sour cream
• ¼ cup (60 ml) mayonnaise
• 3 tsp (15 ml) caper brine
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard, smooth or grainy
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• 1 lemon
• ¼–½ red onion, thinly sliced
• ½ cucumber, thinly sliced
• ¼ cup (60 ml) capers
• ¼ cup finely chopped chives
• ¼ cup finely chopped dill
• 1½ tbsp sesame and/or poppyseeds
• ½ cup (125 g) cream cheese, plain or herb and garlic
• 150-200 g cold smoked salmon

Cooling time: 20 minutes.

Serves 4-6.

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. Add the potatoes into a large saucepan or pot, halving any larger potatoes so that they are all roughly the same size. Cover the potatoes with cool tap water and season generously with salt. Place over high heat, bring to a boil, and cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Strain and set aside to cool completely.
3. Meanwhile, very thinly slice the bagel. I like to do this in rounds to keep the bagel shape but cutting them across will work too. Place the bagels on a sheet pan and brush or drizzle with the oil. Season with salt and pepper and bake for 5 minutes or until lightly golden and toasted. Set the bagel chips aside to cool completely.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together the sour cream, mayonnaise, caper brine, mustard and garlic powder and season with salt and pepper. Using a cocktail zester or a vegetable peeler, remove the zest from half of the lemon. If using a vegetable peeler, slice the zest into thin strips. Alternatively, you can use a regular zester but I like the slightly bigger pieces of zest in this recipe for an extra lemony punch. Add the zest into the bowl along with the juice of the zested half of the lemon.
5. 5. Add the cooled potatoes into the sour cream mixture along with the onions, cucumber, capers and 1½ tablespoons each of the chives and dill. Toss very well to combine and evenly coat everything in the dressing. Set aside for at least a few minutes to allow the flavours to come together.
6. Add the remaining chives and dill to a small shallow dish along with the sesame or poppyseeds and toss to combine. Using two spoons, scoop small bite-sized chunks of cream cheese into the herb mixture and toss to coat. If you’d like, you can roll the cream cheese into balls before tossing with the herbs.
7. Transfer the potato salad onto a serving dish, dot over the cream cheese, and arrange the smoked salmon on top. At this point, you can cover the potato salad and store in the fridge for up to 3 days.
8. When ready to serve, season with a bit more pepper and scatter over some additional herbs and seeds, if desired. Serve with the bagel chips on the side or crunched over the top and the remaining half of the lemon cut into wedges.

Note

You could use any plain or savoury-flavoured bagel here.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.