Thursday, April 15, 2010

Best of Spring Potato Salad


I rarely go to the grocery store and pick up items that aren't designated for a meal. Not only does it keep the budget in check, but it keeps me from buying unnecessary junk. However, when there's a great sale, and I have coupons, I'll buy almost anything. A brand of frozen vegetables were buy-one get-one free last week, and I had coupons for 10 items, so I really stocked the freezer!
Rather than only buy the things I knew I'd use (frozen spinach, peas, green beans), I decided to grab a bag of little onions, an ingredient I haven't had in years. I've only ever seen them paired with peas, so I searched foodtv.com for peas and onions, and found this recipe from Tyler Florence. I loved the idea of paring the dish with potatoes, but I wanted it to be a cold, main dish type salad, not a warm, dinner side dish.
As I was looking for small potatoes, I found the Purple Perivuan variety, which I've been trying to find for years! So I began to construct this salad, and thought it needed another vegetable, and why not incorporate another splash of color, so I threw in a red bell pepper. I also love mint paired with peas, and mint paired with lemon, so I picked from fresh mint from my garden, and I was all set.
I really enjoyed the cold salad I came up with, but I still have 2/3 of a bag of onions to use, and I think I will eventually try out Tyler's dish, as written, for a dinner side one evening.

Best of Spring Potato Salad

1 lb. Purple Peruvian potatoes
1 cup spring peas
1 cup pearl onions
1 red bell pepper, minced
10 fresh mint leaves, minced
1 shallot, minced
1 tsp. raw sugar
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 tbsp. EVOO
Fresh black pepper and salt

Add potatoes to a small pot, cover with water, bring to a boil, turn to low and simmer for 10 minutes, until fork tender.
Add shallow, sugar, lemon zest and juice, EVOO, salt and pepper to a large bowl, whisk to combine.
Add peas and onions to a colander, rinse with cold water for a minute to partially defrost.
Drain and add to the dressing bowl, add red bell pepper, toss to combine.
Drain potatoes, cool for a few minutes, dice and add to the mixing bowl, toss gently.
Serve or keep chilled in the refrigerator.
Garnish with extra mint and/or lemon wedges, if desired.

7 comments:

Sophie @ yumventures said...

This looks incredible! I made peas and pearl onions with mint as a side dish for Easter, and decided if there was a way to eat it for an entire meal, I would! Well here it is! This looks fabulous and summery.

Debbi Does Dinner Healthy said...

Wow, this looks so pretty! I've never seen the purple potatoes either.

Anonymous said...

YUM! I love veggies so this looks great, but I adores all the beautiful colors in this dish! :)

Imogene said...

What a great springy dish. Purple potatoes can really brighten any dish. Have you ever had chocolate mint? If you can find it at the farmers' market, I highly recommend it for tea, lemonade, ice cream..whatever. It is currently usurping my garden...

Joanne said...

I'm like you at the grocery store. If I don't stick to my list, bad things start to happen. I make exceptions at the farmer's market since I can't predict what they'll have.

This salad looks delicious, especially those potatoes!

VegeCooking Club said...

I love how colorful! I try to stick to my list too but whenever I see unique veggies I want to try them out.

Maria said...

I LOVE the recipes in this blog!!! Working in dietetics, I always hear so many excuses for not cooking. I AM SOOO HAPPY to see such amazing recipes and such incredible pictures to go along with them. THANK YOU for inspiring all of us to cook more, to experiment in the kitchen, and to share love through healthy meals.