Recipe and image by Amber Guinness.
When it comes to summer salads, nothing beats a dish that’s as easy to make as it is bursting with flavor. Enter Maurizia’s Potato, Olive, and Caper Salad, a recipe straight from the heart of the Aeolian Islands. If you’re looking to elevate your salad game with minimal effort, this is the recipe you’ve been waiting for.
This is not your average potato salad. Inspired by the flavors of Salina, a gem of an island off the coast of Sicily, this dish brings together tender, waxy potatoes, juicy cherry tomatoes, crisp cucumber, and salty, briny capers—all tossed in good-quality olive oil and finished with a sprinkle of dried oregano. It’s simple, fresh, and absolutely packed with Mediterranean goodness.
But what really sets this salad apart? The capers. Maurizia, a fifth-generation caper farmer, knows her stuff, and the capers from her farm are the star of the show. Soaking the capers beforehand ensures they’re plump and tender, adding that perfect salty pop in every bite. If you can get your hands on some of her granella di capperi—crushed, dried capers—sprinkle it on top for an extra hit of flavor and texture. Trust me, it’s a game-changer.
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“Maurizia is a fifth-generation caper farmer on the island of Salina. Her farm sits above the beautiful bay of Pollara on the northwest coast, best known as the beach where the postman Enzo has his philosophical conversations with the exiled poet Pablo Neruda in the film Il Postino. Maurizia ships her capers and caper-based products all over the world, and also offers tastings at the farm, which I heartily recommend. We feasted on small capers dressed in oil, oregano and garlic; medium capers in agrodolce (with vinegar and sweet Malvasia wine); garlic caper paté; chilli, caper and almond paste on toast; sweet caper paste made with lots of sugar and Malvasia, served with a good strong cheese; and candied capers on ricotta-laden bread – the tiny black capers all sticky, salty and treacly. One of the many special products that Maurizia makes is a granella di capperi (dessicated capers blitzed in a food processor). A sprinkle over salads, pasta or vegetables just before serving adds a wonderful aromatic texture.
One dish that has stayed with me from that day is Maurizia’s insalata eoliana, a delicious potato and caper salad, the recipe for which she kindly shares here. The key to the perfect texture is to cook the potatoes and soak the capers well in advance, so you can do these steps ahead of time and forget about them until you want to assemble the salad.”
L’insalata eoliana di Maurizia - Maurizia's Potato, Olive, and Caper Salad
Ingredients
- 8 waxy potatoes about 1 kg/2 lb 3 oz, peeled and left whole
- 60 g 2 oz large salted capers (or capers in brine)
- ½ red onion, sliced into half moons
- 16 cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters lengthways
- 1 large cucumber, peeled and sliced into pieces a similar size to the tomatoes
- handful of good-quality olives black or green, cut in half and pitted
- handful of basil leaves, roughly torn if large
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- sea salt
- 4 tablespoons good-quality
- olive oil
- 1 tablespoon granella di capperi from Sapori Eoliane, optional
Instructions
- Cook the potatoes in a large saucepan of salted boiling water for about 20 minutes until you can easily pierce them with a fork. Drain. For the best textural result, do this 4–5 hours before assembling the salad to allow the potatoes to cool completely.
- Meanwhile, if you are using salted capers, rinse them in room-temperature water and leave to soak for at least 2 hours, preferably 6 hours. Use plenty of water so they are fully submerged. Change the water four times to be sure you have washed all the salt off.
- About 20 minutes before you assemble the salad, soak the onion in a bowl of cold water to mellow the flavour.
- Cut the potatoes into bite-sized chunks and arrange on a large serving dish. Add the drained capers – Maurizia recommends giving them a squeeze with your hands first to make sure you’ve drained all the water. Add the onion, tomatoes, cucumber, olives, basil and oregano, followed by a good pinch of salt and a generous drizzle of olive oil. Toss well, then let the salad sit for an hour if possible to allow the flavours to come together and amalgamate.
- If you have any, sprinkle over a tablespoon of granella di capperi just before serving to add a bit of crunch.
Excerpted from Italian Coastal, by Amber Guinness © Thames & Hudson 2024. Text © Amber Guinness