Potato Salad with Cervelas

I read A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway a couple of months ago and in one scene he eats a potato salad with a large beer and a cervelas. Ever since reading that scene I have wanted to make the potato salad. It sounded so delicious.

"There were few people in the brasserie and when I sat down on the bench against the wall with the mirror in back and a a table in front. The waiter asked if I wanted beer, I asked for a distingue, the big glass mug that held a liter, and for potato salad.

The beer was very cold and wonderful to drink. The pommes a l'huile were firm and marinated and the olive oil delicious. I ground black pepper over the potatoes and moistened the bread in the olive oil. After the first heavy draft of beer I drank and ate very slowly. When the pommes a l'huile were gone I ordered another serving and a cervelas. This was a sausage like a heavy frankfurter split in two and covered with a special mustard sauce."

I googled pommes a l'huile, and it came up with this recipe, which isn't quite the same, but was the best I could find. I couldn't find a cervelas, which is a cooked sausage produced mainly in Switzerland, Alsace and in parts of Germany, so I used smoked pork sausage instead. It also added pickles, which weren't mentioned in the book. Overall this was a really tasty potato salad and the vinaigrette was delicious.

Potato Salad with Pork Sausage and Pickles

(Serves 4)

800g potatoes

100g cooked pork sausage

5 pickles

3 tbsp oil

1 tbsp vinegar

1 tsp mustard

Salt and Pepper

Wash the potatoes and cook in a saucepan of boiling water for 15 mins.

Drain the potatoes and cool them under the cold water tap. Cut them into strips.

Cut the sausage into slices or cubes. Drain the pickles and slice them into rounds. Toss the potatoes sausage and pickles.

In a bowl mix the vinegar and mustard, add the salt. When the salt is dissolved, add the oil and pepper. Just before serving sprinkle the salad with vinaigrette.