Potato and Bratwurst Salad with Shallot-Mustard Dressing

One of my favourite butchers in New York is Esposito’s in Hell’s Kitchen. You’ll find all manner of meat, poultry and game here, but their specialty is hand-tied links of sausage, which they make in the premises daily— Italian sausages, Spanish-style fresh chorizo, Irish bangers, and Bavarian bratwursts. In this recipe, I paired their bratwurst with baby new potatoes and sweet caramelised shallots, rounded off with tangy vinegar and mustard.

Ingredients
2 lbs [1 kg] Baby New Potatoes
2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
2 lbs [1 kg] Bratwurst sausage, cut into ½-inch-thick pieces
4 Shallots, thinly sliced
3 sprigs Thyme
3 tbsp Vinegar
3 tbsp Spicy Mustard
Salt (to taste)
½ tsp freshly ground Black Pepper
2 tbsp Olive Oil
3 tbsp Chives, chopped into 2-inch long pieces

1. Boil whole, skin-on potatoes in salted water for 10–12 mins, until fork tender. Drain off water and set aside potatoes in a large mixing bowl. 
2. Heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a large skillet or frying pan over high heat. Add sausage and brown well on both sides. Remove sausage from pan and set aside in mixing bowl with potatoes. 
3. Heat remaining vegetable oil in pan and add shallots and thyme. Cook for 5–7 mins until golden brown and well caramelised. Lower heat, add vinegar, and let simmer for about a min, scraping any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Turn off heat, and stir-in mustard. 
4. Discard thyme and transfer shallot mixture to mixing bowl. Add salt, pepper, olive oil, and chives, and toss well. Let the salad sit for at least 40 mins to allow the flavours to steep. Serve at room temperature.