I’m Back! (and Potato Salad)
April 24, 2010 – 3:09 pmI am back from all my many travels, and I am happy to report that my comp is behind me. I don’t know yet if I passed, but I am surely glad to be done studying for it. Now I have brain-space and time for blogging and cooking. I hate it when I don’t have time to cook.
And boy have I been cooking since I got home. I started off on Thursday with this awesome potato salad (not vegan).
As I mentioned, this salad is not vegan (although most things I cook and recipes I invent are). Not even technically vegetarian, as it contains salmon. Hubs is a good vegeater, but he likes fish occasionally, so we occasionally eat it. It could easily be made vegan with a couple tweaks and the omission of the salmon. It sure is tasty, and filling – a whole meal in a bowl. Here’s what I did:
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The What:
1 – 1.5 lb small red potatoes, boiled whole for 20 mins, then diced into bite-sized chunks. I left skin on cause peeling potatoes is a waste of time.
approx 1/2 red onion (maybe a little less than half), finely diced. You do not want big hunks of onion.
1/2 package (8-ish oz) frozen peas, thawed (not cooked, just rinsed in warm water till thawed)
fresh flatleaf parsley, chopped (maybe 1/4 cup?)
fresh dill (same as parsley)
1 5-oz package of salmon (or canned)
1 whole head of roasted garlic, peel then slice the cloves up (to do this, I just lop off the top of the head so the cloves are exposed, then put in toaster oven on 375 until the whole thing is soft and fragrant — maybe 20 mins. If you cook it longer, it gets really soft and you can spread it on bread, yum.)
dressing:
1/3 (ish) cup sour cream
1/3 – 1/2 cup ranch-style dressing
splash apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar
a generous squirt of dijon or brown mustard
juice of 1/2 lemon
cayenne to taste
salt and pepper to taste
The How:
Toss all together gently. once everthing is all mixed up, finish with juice from the other half of the lemon, then chill for a while. If I were making this again, I might add some chopped broccoli florets, lightly steamed. As I said, this stuff is like a whole meal all in one bowl. Remember to salt the boiling water for the potatoes well — they will absorb salt and be more flavorful.
To make this vegan, use vegan sour cream and a vegan salad dressing, and omit the salmon. If you make it, post a comment and let me know what you think!
Stay tuned for more of what I’ve been making and baking, as well as photos from my latest vegan restaurant adventures.