Saturday, July 3, 2010

Red White and Blue Potato Salad

Made with local baby blue, red new, and dutch yellow potatoes with local baby red onions that are caramelized to heavenly sweetness. Mixed with a lemony aoli style dressing with crunchy and fresh local cucumber. Zesty and colorful, this classic side gets local and patriotic to enliven your next 4th of July picnic.

Potatoes
1/2 pound purple/blue baby (small) potatoes
1/2 pound baby new potatoes
1/2 pound baby dutch yellow or yukon potatoes
3 tablespoons kosher salt

Caramelized Onions
1/2 pound baby red onions
2 teaspoons sea salt
1/2 cup water


Dressing
1/2 large english (seedless) cucumber
3 tablespoons good quality mayo
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 teaspoons grey poupon or similar mustard
2 teaspoons finely minced fresh garlic
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Special equipment- potato brush scrubber

Peel and slice the onions into half moons. In a large stainless steel saute pan on medium high heat, heat the olive oil until it shimmers and smokes slightly in the pan. Add the onions and salt and saute slowly, adding a little water when needed (when there are sticky brown bits on the pan) to deglaze. Cook onions for approximately 20 minutes, or until they are dark brown, and very soft and sweet.

While the onions are cooking, get started on the potatoes.

Wash and scrub all potatoes under cold running water. Halve or quarter the potatoes so they are bite sized (about 2 inches in diameter) and all roughly the same size. Fill a large pot with cold water, and add the potatoes and 3 tablespoons of salt. It may seem like a lot of salt, so if your pot is on the small side- use a little less. Your pot should be large enough for the potatoes to comfortably bubble around like they are in a big jacuzzi.  Boil the potatoes until they are fork tender and drain.

While the potatoes are boiling, start the dressing.

In a large bowl, whisk the mayo, olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, mustard, minced garlic, salt and pepper. Dice the cucumber and mix in.

When the potatoes are done, drain them, and place them back in the hot pot for a second or two to wick off the excess moisture. Pour the hot potatoes into the bowl with the dressing, cucumbers and caramelized onions and mix well. Test for seasoning, and add if needed. Refrigerate for 4 hours, or overnight. The longer this potato salad sits in the fridge, the tastier it gets!