Warm Potato Salad with Seasonal
Vegetables and Mixed Greens

We ate a lot of potato salad one summer when we were testing this recipe. But, the end result was well worth it. 

Savory, creamy, browned potatoes are tossed with tangy vinaigrette and paired with seasonal vegetables that have either been oven roasted or grilled - all placed on a bed of mixed greens. 

Warm, cold, crisp and delicious, it’s one of the few salads I’ve seen people go back for seconds and thirds.

1 lb baby potatoes or new red potatoes, cut in half or quartered

2-3 slices of bacon or good olive oil

1/3 cup white wine vinegar

¼ Dijon mustard

1 tbs honey

1/3 cup olive oil

2 tbs capers

1 tbs dried herbs like a blend, thyme, basil, oregano, etc.

Salt and pepper to taste

6-8 oz of greens such as mache, spinach, romaine, etc.

Boil potatoes in salted water until they can be pierced easily with a fork. Meanwhile, chop the bacon into ¼ inch pieces and cook until brown and crispy in a nonstick skillet.

Skim out the bacon pieces and drain on paper towels and if needed, add a splash of oil to the bacon fat. This will be what you use to sauté the cooked potatoes. 

Make the vinaigrette by whisking together the white wine vinegar through the dried herbs and tasting to season with salt and pepper. If you use the bacon, you probably won’t need much salt. 

Once the potatoes are nicely browned, add half of the prepared vinaigrette to them in the nonstick skillet. Remove and serve with the greens and the remaining dressing added by your guests.
 

For the seasonal vegetables: 
This is a step you would need to start before the potatoes. Vegetables can be oven roasted in a hot 425-degree oven or grilled over high heat.  Here’s one of our favorite variations for late spring and early summer:

4-5 beetroots
3-4 small yellow onions
1 head of garlic
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Pre-heat oven to 425-degrees and line a baking sheet with foil for easy clean-up. Peel or scrub the skin off of the beetroots and cut into ½ inch wedges.

Slice the onions into ½ inch wedges.

Cut the top off of the garlic head. Toss all with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast for 45-minutes to 1-hour until the veggies are caramelized. Stir or toss occasionally.

When done, add to the potatoes on the bed of greens, squeezing the roasted garlic out of its papery shells.

Other summer ideas include, grilled zucchini or eggplant, fire roasted bell peppers, fresh cherry tomatoes, grilled radicchio, grilled onion slices, etc. For the fall, try oven roasting butternut squash wedges or sweet potatoes.

If you know you’ll have leftovers of this recipe, you can plate individual portions of the salad, this will keep the dressing off of the greens and you won’t have a large bowl of wilted greens and potatoes is your fridge. (Unless you’re like me, and you like that sort of thing.)

Copyright 2008-2009.