Potatoes with green chile-cilantro salsa

I love potatoes. I always have - when I was a child, my parents would try to get me to eat other starchy vegetables by telling me that they were types of potatoes (plantain potato, etc. - and yes, it worked). This summer, I have been buying potatoes every week at the farmers' market, but I rarely do anything more creative than roast or pan fry them in a little oil. This blog is good motivation for me to find some more interesting potato dishes to try!

This one is another recipe from Gourmet Today. I'm not a big fan of mayo-based potato salads, so it's nice to find an alternative dressing, like this fresh and spicy green salsa. It was good tossed with boiled potatoes, and I bet it would be even better as a topping for potato pancakes. I'll let you know if I get around to trying that. This dish made a nice accompaniment to eggs, and would also work well with a number of other things - in particular, these potatoes could help liven things up if your main dish is on the plainer side.

Potatoes with green chile-cilantro salsa
Adapted from Gourmet Today
Serves 4

This salsa can be quite spicy, depending on the heat of your jalapenos, so adjust the amount of chiles to your taste.

2 pounds fingerling or small boiling potatoes, larger ones halved so that they are about uniform in size
Salt
2 tbs cider vinegar
1-2 jalapeno chiles - discard about 2/3 of the seeds and ribs, and chop the rest
1 cup fresh cilantro sprigs, coarsely chopped
2 tbs chopped shallot or onion
1 small garlic clove, coarsely chopped
2 tbs extra-virgin olive oil

Put potatoes in a large pot and add cold, salted water to cover by 1 inch. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until potatoes are just tender. Drain potatoes, rinse with cold water until they are slightly cooled, and drain fully. While still warm, toss potatoes with 1/2 tbs vinegar. Cool to room temperature and then season with salt and pepper.

Combine jalapenos, cilantro, onion/shallot, garlic, oil, and remaining vinegar in a food processor and pulse until salsa is finely chopped. Toss potatoes with salsa and serve. Make sure to cool the potatoes fully before tossing, otherwise the cilantro will discolor. Leftovers can be stored for 1-2 days in the fridge.