Potato salad

• Scrub the potatoes clean of any dirt.

  *I prefer to leave the skins on – and peel them after cooking if I want to. You can also eat them with the skins on, or peel them before cooking – it is up to you.
• Put the potatoes in a pan with plenty of well-salted cold water, adding a few peppercorns and some herbs if you have them, and bring to the boil.
• Let them simmer over a medium heat for about 5 min. with the lid on.

  Turn off the heat and leave the potatoes to finish cooking in the hot water, covered, for about 15 min.

  *Cooking your potatoes this way gives you a lovely firm potato that does not fall apart. The time naturally depends on the size of the potatoes – so test them with a skewer once they have stood for 10 min. If they are still very hard, simply turn the heat back on for a couple of minutes – you quickly learn to judge the cooking time once you have done it a few times. If they only need a little more, leave them to stand in the water with the lid on.

  *Then rinse the potatoes in cold water so they cool down faster and can be tossed with the rest of the ingredients.
• Fry the bacon in a frying pan until crisp, then drain the pieces on a little kitchen paper.
• Mix the ingredients for the vinaigrette and season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Tip the cooled potatoes into a bowl with the apple, spring onions, bacon and parsley – pour over the vinaigrette and toss well.
• Add the lamb's lettuce, toss quickly and serve the potato salad straight away.

  *The lamb's lettuce wilts after a while – so wait to fold it in until just before serving.