Make Do Potatoes

This is really my take on a Spanish dish which is a sort of Mediterranean bubble and squeak.  There also seems to be a similar dish in almost every country I've been too.  If you're not too keen on any of the ingredients below, just leave them out and put some of your favourites in.

You make it with cooked new/small to medium sized potatoes and its best not served chilled, which is convenient especially for picnics and when generally out and about and is a great alternative to sandwiches as you can add all kinds of ingredients.

I'm using just over two pounds or one kilo of waxy potatoes.  These are cooked and allowed to cool down (but not to go cold) before adding the rest of the ingredients.  Obviously if you are adding anything actually needs to be cold (flaked tuna or egg then this will need to be refrigerated afterwards and kept in a cool bag if going to the park, but if none of these ingredients are added you will be fine).  The only real rule to this dish is that the potatoes are completely cold when you add everything else.  The potatoes will then take on the flavours more readily, a little like only dressing warm rice or pasta when making a rice or pasta salad, same principle.

Once the potatoes are ready, leave them in a large bowl to cool down and crush them slightly.  If they are large potatoes, chop them up roughly.

• two tablespoons of capers
• one large red onion, halved and sliced very thinly.  The segments separated out
• two large cloves of garlic, crushed
• one lemon and one orange, just the juice of both
• one teaspoon of fine sugar
• six or seven tablespoons of good extra virgin, unfiltered, olive oil
• 150 grams or 6 ozs of black and green olives (or one or the other if you like)
• one tablespoon of anchovy paste (or not, if you aren't refrigerating this)
• 10 grams or 1/2 oz of finely chopped flat leaf parsley and thyme
• two very large, very ripe tomatoes, chopped (if you don't have very ripe ones, leave out overnight before chopping them up, they will recover some flavour at least) 

The additions should go into a separate bowl and all of these should be mixed thoroughly and left for 20 to 30 minutes for the flavours to combine.  Now add these to the potatoes and combine well.

Additions could include sweet potato (although this makes the mixture a little too wet, so leave out the half the fruit juice and use a ratio of half waxy potato to half sweet.  You will also need to leave out the sugar), tinned tuna or salmon (which makes this very much main salad offering if you need to take a dish to a party), green beans (which adds another vibrant colour to the dish) or try adding tinned artichoke hearts or butter beans. 

Experiment and have fun.   This really is a "make do" Summer salad.