vorace.: FancyPants Potato Salad

First, I'd like to apologize for my absence. I was out of town on a work trip for a whole week (no kitchen in the hotel = no cooking = no new blog recipes. Boo!), AND I've been dedicating a lot of time to my other baby - my start-up photography business! Wee! Stay tuned for my website launch :-)

Now back to my first internet baby, this ravenous blog!

While it's not officially summer yet, it sure is smokin' hot here in the NCR (that's national capitol region, one of my fav acronyms!). Not only has it been hot, it's been humid. What a combo! But hey, I'll take it over the freezing cold winter wonderland that was bestowed upon us this winter. When it's this hot outside, the last thing I want to eat for dinner is some piping hot, steaming plate of heavy food. I recently decided to whip up this light, refreshing, cold potato salad to cure my craving for (low glycemic) carbs and it was so delicious, I have made it twice now! If that ain't deserving of a blog recipe, I don't know what is!

This is the *perfect* dish to take to a picnic, party, barbeque, or potluck, because it contains no mayo, which can spoil if left out of the fridge for too long. I use oil & vinegar based dressing on plenty of pasta salads, so I figured I could go ahead and use one on a potato salad as well. Why not?! I recently purchased some fancy-pants champagne vinegar to use for making a dip for some oysters my boyfriend and I were shucking at home (brave, I know!). Since I had it laying around, I thought it would be tasty on my potato salad. And I was right - it turned out to be *super* tasty!

My boyfriend has a very luscious garden growing on our balcony right now. He grew all of it from scratch himself! Beets, brussel sprouts, peppers, tomatoes, sage. It's very green out there - just like his thumb! Since we have so much sage, I've been trying to think of new ways to use it. My friend Erica and I made a really delectible pizza a few years ago on NYE where the recipe called for fried sage, and that idea has stuck with me. I thought the fried sage would go well with the potatoes, so I threw some of that in there!

For this recipe I used feta cheese because that is what we had on hand, but the first time I made this salad, I used grated pecorino-romano and that was really good. I think I actually prefer that, but if you're a feta fan, try it this way. And if you're a dairy-freer, use nutritional yeast or skip the cheese altogether - no biggie!

OK let's get cookin'!

Fancy-Pants Potato Salad

Servings: 5

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

4 large red potatoes (skin on), cut into large cubes

1 sweet potato, peeled, cut into large cubes

2 cipollini onions, peeled (or if you can't find cipollini, use a 1/4 of a sweet onion, sliced)

1 teaspoon minced shallot

2 tablespoons champagne vinegar

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) for cooking + 4 teaspoons for dressing

1/2 teaspoon pink Himalayan sea salt + 2 pinches for dressing & onions

3/4 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper (FCBP)

7 large fresh sage leaves

Start by setting your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Place a large pot filled half full with water on the stove over high heat. When the water comes to a boil, add the potatoes.

While waiting for the water to boil, prepare the onions for roasting. Place the peeled whole onions in a small baking dish. Drizzle with EVOO and sprinkle with salt & 1/4 teaspoon FCBP. Toss to coat & place the dish in the oven on the middle rack.

Now make the dressing. Add the 4 teaspoons EVOO, the vinegar, minced shallots, and salt & 1/2 teaspoon FCBP to a container with a tight fitting lid. Shake vigorously to combine the ingredients into a dressing-like consistency.

Set aside.

Cook the potatoes until they are fork tender but not falling apart - about 20 minutes. When they are done cooking, remove the pot from the heat and drain the water from the potatoes in a colander set in the sink. Run cold water over the potatoes.

Shake off the excess water and then place the potatoes back in the now empty pot in which you cooked them.

Set the potatoes aside to cool slightly.

Now, fry the sage leaves. Start by setting up a paper towel on a clean plate so you can drain the fried sage when it's done cooking.

Place a small non-stick pan on the stove over medium heat. Drizzle in two tablespoons EVOO.

Carefully add the sage leaves to the oil. Move your hand quickly because the oil will spatter!

Fry on the first side for about 15 seconds, and then use tongs to flip each leaf over to cook on the second side. Once the leaves are crispy and fragrant, remove them from the oil and place on the paper towels to drain and cool.

While the sage leaves are cooling, add the dressing to your potatoes, and sprinkle in a 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Use a large spoon to toss the potatoes in the dressing & salt.

The sage leaves should be cooled by now, so stack them on a cutting board and run a sharp knife through to coursely chop them. Then sprinkle the chopped leaves over the potatoes.