Ina Garten's French Potato Salad Trades Mayo For A Boozy Substitution

Easy to make and even easier to eat, a basic potato salad recipe is always a welcome dish when it comes to barbecues and family feasts. Creamy and crowd-pleasing, it's a great accompaniment for meat and fish dishes, and the ideal side for eating outside at a grill party or picnic.

If you fancy a change from the traditional mayo-laden version, you could always try a French potato salad, which is packed with fresh green herbs and dressed with a homemade zesty vinaigrette made with Dijon mustard. Altogether, it makes for a lighter yet flavorful alternative. If you want to take it one step further, just take a cue from Ina Garten.

The Barefoot Contessa takes the French potato salad to a whole new level with one clever addition — and it's something that you may already have in your kitchen. Her inspired version of the French potato salad owes its depth of flavor to a splash of wine, which transforms the simple side into something extra special.

Drinking a well-matched glass of wine with dinner can enhance a meal from good to great. And cooking with wine can equally transform a dish with great results, whether you're using it to marinate meat, to add a more complex flavor to braises, to deglaze for a delicious pan sauce, or to bring out the sweet tenderness of poached fruit.

When it comes to Ina Garten's French potato salad recipe, as seen on YouTube, the chef uses dry white wine, adding it in while the potatoes are still warm, so they can absorb the liquid, which gives it "so much flavor," Garten says. Since the potatoes are already cooked and the wine itself isn't heated, the wine won't be cooked down, as it often the case in many other recipes, so using just a couple of tablespoons means it can enhance the dish without overpowering it.

As for choosing a cooking wine, Garten simply specifies she opts for a good dry white wine, which offers plenty of options to choose from, such as a Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc. You could even use "leftover wine from dinner last night," as she suggests.

To make Ina Garten's French potato salad, she first begins by preparing a mixture of red and white potatoes until they're just cooked through, draining them and letting them steam for a few minutes under a towel. Garten then thickly slices the potatoes and places them in a bowl before adding her magic secret ingredient: a couple of tablespoons of dry white wine, along with a splash of chicken stock.

The chef then mixes up a vinaigrette in a separate bowl by pairing Champagne vinegar (or you could substitute white wine vinegar or cider vinegar) with a half-teaspoon of Dijon mustard and a pinch of salt and pepper, and then she slowly whisks in olive oil to make an emulsion, which is poured over the still-warm potatoes.

The final step is to add chopped scallions and plenty of fresh dill, and basil for a fresh, herby flavor. The longer the dish sits in the fridge, the better it tastes, says Garten. Which gives you plenty of time to get on with preparing other dishes, and perhaps even have a glass of that dry white wine for yourself, you know, while you wait.