Potato salad with green beans, roasted red peppers and kalamata olives

Not to toot my own horn or anything . . . Okay, no; wait -- I totally want to toot my own horn. I just made a ridiculously tasty potato salad. It started with this Epicurious recipe as the base:

Ingredients:

• 3 garlic cloves
• 3 tablespoons Sherry vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon dried hot red-pepper flakes
• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 pound hot cooked small (2-inch) boiling potatoes, quartered
• 2/3 cup bottled roasted red peppers (4 ounces), rinsed, patted dry, and chopped
• 2/3 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
• 1/3 cup pitted brine-cured black olives, halved

Preparation:
Mince garlic and mash to a paste with a pinch of salt using side of a large heavy knife. Transfer to a large bowl and whisk in vinegar, salt, and red-pepper flakes, then whisk in oil.

Add hot potatoes to vinaigrette and toss to coat. Let stand until potatoes cool to warm, about 30 minutes, then stir in peppers, parsley, and olives. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Here's how I improvised:

I used a 5lbs bag of small, yukon gold potatoes, which meant I had to up the amounts of all the ingredients a bit. I also wanted to have green beans in there (per this recipe), so I prepared them first by boiling about 3/4 lbs. beans for 3 minutes in salted water with a tiny bit of fresh, chopped tarragon (be careful, 'cause if you don't know that stuff is p-p-p-potent). I used the ice-water-emersion method to keep them from getting too cooked as suggested in that link.

I overcooked the potatoes, but a little mushiness is okay with me; perhaps I prefer it. (I read that potatoes take roughly 15 min when added to boiling water; I brought them to boil in the water so I lost track of time. ::shrugs:: )

While the potatoes were cooking, I made the vinaigrette (I used red wine vinegar instead of sherry vinegar). I *heart* garlic so I used about 6 or 7 cloves, about a tablespoon of crushed red pepper flakes, 4 tablespoons of vinegar and 6 tablespoons of olive oil (again, this was because I also had more potatoes). I added a bit more chopped tarragon and cut out the parsley completely. I decided to go with kalamata olives instead of black olives. I added dill weed to the potatoes both while they were cooking and once they were cut and in the vinaigrette. I also cooked my potatoes with a whole onion, but I think next time I would *not* include the onion. I know, I know -- that's almost sacrilegious for me; I think onions hardly ever do anything but ADD flavor -- but I noticed they added something a little . . . earthy that didn't need to be there. I tasted continuously to adjust flavors; adding some of the kalamata juice proved to add zip and pep.

Anyhow, this recipe is fantastic and I think the folks that are coming over for our little barbecue this evening will be pleased. And I'm pretty sure this is vegan: no mayo and thus no eggs. . . just veggies and olive oil.

Oh, and I got all ingredients from New Seasons, a local version of Whole Foods that's a bit easier on the wallet. I win!!