a peek inside the fishbowl

My other tomoto-related recipe will have to wait. I’m planning on making it for company coming tomorrow, and I want to take a photo of it. I can’t wait to share it with you… it’s THE BEST.

Today it’s about the humble potato.

We’re not big potato eaters around here. A few years ago it dawned on me that three-food-and-a-starch dinners are a tradition foisted upon us by our forefathers. A traditional North American meal consists of meat, a starch, and one veggie. So for example: steak, potato and peas/carrots/corn.

For some reason we were having a starch every night, just out of tradition. That voice in the back of my head told me I always had to serve a baked potato with steak. But you know what? I didn’t need that baked potato. I especially didn’t need it with butter and sour cream and a sprinkling of chives one or two times a week. Nor did I need mashed, pan-fried, boiled, or french-fried potatos. And so, the poor potato was largely eliminated from our diets. Today, our dinners often consist of a meat and a couple vegetables, most often in salad format. My waistline thanks me.

Do you like potato salad? I don’t. Well, let’s just say it’s not my favourite. I think I ate too much of it growing up, where the tradition was to serve a pile of traditional mayo-based potato salad with wiener schnitzel. And we ate a lot of wiener schnitzel. What can I say I’m Czech.

Anyway, today’s recipe was in the National Post a few weekends ago. I ripped it out because it sounded interesting. But I didn’t tell Mark what I was planning. If I had mentioned the words “potato salad” he would have been turned off right away. And so I casually mentioned we’re having this new roasted potato thing with a yummy-sounding dressing and he was game to try.

This kind of potato salad doesn’t have mayo, and we served it warm, so in my books it wins out over the traditional kind. And I bet it’s healthier too.

Warm Roast Potato Salad by Bonnie Stern

– 3 lbs small round Yukon gold potatoes or red potatoes, cut in half
– 2 tbsp olive oil
– 2 tsp salt

Dressing:

– 1 tbsp sherry vinegar (which I didn’t have, so I used red wine vinegar)
– 2 cloves garlic, minced
– 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
– ½ tsp salt
– 1 tbsp
– 1 tbsp grainy mustard (I used Dijon)
-¼ cup olive oil

Toss potatoes with olive oil and salt. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Roast in a 425F oven for 40 to 45 minutes or until browned, crisp and tender inside. OR, if it’s 45 degrees outside and you yourself are roasting, oil ’em, salt ’em, and toss them on the BBQ until they’re browned and crisp and tender inside. If you want to speed up the BBQ process poke them with a fork and nuke them in the micro (with a bit of water) for a few minutes to pre-cook.

For dressing, in a large bowl combine vinegar, garlic, parsley, salt and mustard. Whisk in olive oil. Toss with potatoes as soon as they come out of the oven. Serve warm or at room temperature, on a bed of arugula or other greenery. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

This doesn’t reheat particularly well, so make sure you finish it off.