This is a simple wee salad that can be knocked together in a few minutes if you've got left-over cooked potatoes. The potatoes and tomatoes together give a pleasant contrast of textures but basically you could adapt the ingredients to fit what's in the fridge. Pounding fresh herbs to make a dressing really brings out the flavours and if you find that you like this style of salad, you could experiment with different herbs and spices.
Ingredients
4 or 5 cold, or cooling, cooked potatoes
4 tomatoes
1 small cucumber
A few sprigs each of fresh parsley and basil
1 large clove of garlic
A half tsp. of whole coriander seeds
A few black peppercorns
1 or 2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 or 2 tablespoons of apple or grape vinegar
Salt
Chop the potatoes and tomatoes into 2 cm pieces and the cucumber into smaller pieces. Rinse the potato in cold water if it seems a bit sticky. Mix the vegetables together in a bowl with some salt. Using a pestle and mortar, first grind the coriander seeds and peppercorns then pound the garlic and greens (roughly chopped) into the mixture. Dilute with the vinegar and pour the mixture over the chopped vegetables. Add the oil and mix gently, but well.