The Un-Composed (i.e., Best) Niçoise Salad

Nice, but the dressing was pretty overwhelming, especially since we had only added half the anchovies (to the salad, and all anchovies in the dressing). Also, there's an anourmous amount of dressing, I don't think you'll need all of that. Last, just tell me again how much salt you're supposed to add to the potatoes - 1/2 cup?! 8 tbsp?! What for? Either you'll taste it and the potatoes are oversalted, or you don't, but then you're wasting money and polluting the environment.