Recipe: Patriotic Potato Salad
Jul. 5th, 2009 11:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hrjThis is what I was inspired to make for the 4th of July BBQ I was invited to.
Main ingredient preparation
Boil 2 weeks’ worth of CSA box potatoes (white). I think it was about 5 lb. There were a combination of a fingerling-type with a very waxy solid flesh and a rounder type with a more mealy starchy flesh. Peel and slice (or, if necessary, dice) into bite-sized pieces. But it looks nicer with sliced rounds.
Boil ca. 1 lb medium-sized blue/purple potatoes. Don’t over-cook (as I did), because when you peel and slice them you want to save a half dozen or so of the nicest, firmest slices for garnish. Using a small star-shaped cookie/garnish cutter, cut about half dozen of the slices into stars and set aside. Dice the rest into bite-sized pieces.
Peel and boil ca. 2 lb red beets. Slice into about ¼ inch rounds and using two sizes of star-shaped cutters, cut about a dozen stars of each size and set aside. Dice the rest into bite-sized pieces.
Take a bunch of large white globe radishes. Trim and scrub clean. Slice thinly and cut about a dozen of the largest rounds into stars. Put the rest into a food processor and chop finely.
Take a large sweet red onion. Cut the onion in half lengthwise and remove the two outermost layers. Cut these lengthwise into strips and set aside for garnishing. (I also microwaved them for a minute to make them a little limper for arranging. This seems to have had the additional effect of turning them more of a bluish-purple than red, which was useful.) Dice the rest of the onion finely.
Take a small jar of fire-roasted red peppers and slice several of them into long thin strips. Dice a couple more pieces into small bits.
Dressing preparation
The important thing about the dressings is to enhance the flavor of the main ingredients without significantly affecting the color.
Blue Potato Dressing: Sprinkle with vinegar*, salt, and mixed herbs to taste. Add a tablespoonful each of prepared horseradish and of a grainy mustard (but not one with a bright yellow color). Toss lightly to coat.
*First I tested the vinegar on a sample, because many of the blue-purple food colors are pH sensitive and turn bluer at high pH and purpler at low pH. So I wanted to make sure that acidifying the potatoes wouldn’t turn them purple. It didn’t during the initial test, although later when I compared the salad portion with the blue potato stars (which had no dressing) the salad was definitely a shade more purple, so a non-acidic dressing would be better.
Basic dressing for White Potatoes and Beets
Mix a pint of thick unflavored yogurt with a couple tablespoonfuls of grated horseradish, the chopped radish, the chopped red onion, and salt and mixed herbs to taste. Add about 2/3 of this to the white potatoes and toss lightly to coat.
To the remainder of the dressing, add the diced roasted peppers and a tablespoon of grainy (non-yellow) mustard and add it to the beets and toss lightly to coat.
If you like, marinate the beet-stars in a little balsamic vinegar until you’re ready to assemble the salad.
Assembly
Assemble the ingredients on a large platter so that you get the maximum surface area for the visuals.
The most important thing to keep in mind about the assembly is that the beets are juicy and beet juice will indelibly color anything else it touches. So careful segregation is important; hand-washing after handling the beets is important; and placing the beet-stars carefully is important.
The ingredients to assemble are these:
White potato salad – the main ingredient. Lay down a layer of this on about the outer half or more of the platter.
Beet salad – Spoon this carefully into a ring just inside the white potatoes. Don’t drip.
Blue potato salad – Spoon carefully into the center of the beet-ring.
Garnish
Aim for maximum color contrast: radish-stars on the beets and blue potatoes; beet-stars and blue potato-stars on the white potatoes. Dry the beet-stars with a paper towel before laying them on (especially if you’ve marinated them in vinegar) to minimize bleeding.
Use the onion and pepper strips to make “whoosh” marks relative to the stars. Aim for the effect of the stars shooting out from the center of the platter.
Option: I added a few borage flowers from the garden (because I could) since they’re blue and star-shaped. They were placed at the origin point of the “swoosh” marks.
Analysis
I got lots of compliments on the visuals. I liked the taste – I didn’t get much specific feedback on taste from other people, but there were a lot of different dishes, and just because it didn’t stand out as anything special doesn’t mean it had problems. Visually, I thought it was a bit too busy. I used less than half the stars I’d cut, but I think I had an impulse to use lots simply because I had them. Fewer, and arranged more carefully, would be better. But overall a success.
Lots of leftovers. I know what I’m having for lunch this week.
Main ingredient preparation
Boil 2 weeks’ worth of CSA box potatoes (white). I think it was about 5 lb. There were a combination of a fingerling-type with a very waxy solid flesh and a rounder type with a more mealy starchy flesh. Peel and slice (or, if necessary, dice) into bite-sized pieces. But it looks nicer with sliced rounds.
Boil ca. 1 lb medium-sized blue/purple potatoes. Don’t over-cook (as I did), because when you peel and slice them you want to save a half dozen or so of the nicest, firmest slices for garnish. Using a small star-shaped cookie/garnish cutter, cut about half dozen of the slices into stars and set aside. Dice the rest into bite-sized pieces.
Peel and boil ca. 2 lb red beets. Slice into about ¼ inch rounds and using two sizes of star-shaped cutters, cut about a dozen stars of each size and set aside. Dice the rest into bite-sized pieces.
Take a bunch of large white globe radishes. Trim and scrub clean. Slice thinly and cut about a dozen of the largest rounds into stars. Put the rest into a food processor and chop finely.
Take a large sweet red onion. Cut the onion in half lengthwise and remove the two outermost layers. Cut these lengthwise into strips and set aside for garnishing. (I also microwaved them for a minute to make them a little limper for arranging. This seems to have had the additional effect of turning them more of a bluish-purple than red, which was useful.) Dice the rest of the onion finely.
Take a small jar of fire-roasted red peppers and slice several of them into long thin strips. Dice a couple more pieces into small bits.
Dressing preparation
The important thing about the dressings is to enhance the flavor of the main ingredients without significantly affecting the color.
Blue Potato Dressing: Sprinkle with vinegar*, salt, and mixed herbs to taste. Add a tablespoonful each of prepared horseradish and of a grainy mustard (but not one with a bright yellow color). Toss lightly to coat.
*First I tested the vinegar on a sample, because many of the blue-purple food colors are pH sensitive and turn bluer at high pH and purpler at low pH. So I wanted to make sure that acidifying the potatoes wouldn’t turn them purple. It didn’t during the initial test, although later when I compared the salad portion with the blue potato stars (which had no dressing) the salad was definitely a shade more purple, so a non-acidic dressing would be better.
Basic dressing for White Potatoes and Beets
Mix a pint of thick unflavored yogurt with a couple tablespoonfuls of grated horseradish, the chopped radish, the chopped red onion, and salt and mixed herbs to taste. Add about 2/3 of this to the white potatoes and toss lightly to coat.
To the remainder of the dressing, add the diced roasted peppers and a tablespoon of grainy (non-yellow) mustard and add it to the beets and toss lightly to coat.
If you like, marinate the beet-stars in a little balsamic vinegar until you’re ready to assemble the salad.
Assembly
Assemble the ingredients on a large platter so that you get the maximum surface area for the visuals.
The most important thing to keep in mind about the assembly is that the beets are juicy and beet juice will indelibly color anything else it touches. So careful segregation is important; hand-washing after handling the beets is important; and placing the beet-stars carefully is important.
The ingredients to assemble are these:
White potato salad – the main ingredient. Lay down a layer of this on about the outer half or more of the platter.
Beet salad – Spoon this carefully into a ring just inside the white potatoes. Don’t drip.
Blue potato salad – Spoon carefully into the center of the beet-ring.
Garnish
Aim for maximum color contrast: radish-stars on the beets and blue potatoes; beet-stars and blue potato-stars on the white potatoes. Dry the beet-stars with a paper towel before laying them on (especially if you’ve marinated them in vinegar) to minimize bleeding.
Use the onion and pepper strips to make “whoosh” marks relative to the stars. Aim for the effect of the stars shooting out from the center of the platter.
Option: I added a few borage flowers from the garden (because I could) since they’re blue and star-shaped. They were placed at the origin point of the “swoosh” marks.
Analysis
I got lots of compliments on the visuals. I liked the taste – I didn’t get much specific feedback on taste from other people, but there were a lot of different dishes, and just because it didn’t stand out as anything special doesn’t mean it had problems. Visually, I thought it was a bit too busy. I used less than half the stars I’d cut, but I think I had an impulse to use lots simply because I had them. Fewer, and arranged more carefully, would be better. But overall a success.
Lots of leftovers. I know what I’m having for lunch this week.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-07-05 07:33 pm (UTC)Some days you are just TOO clever!
You must have floored your guests!
no subject
Date: 2009-07-05 07:46 pm (UTC)