You Gotta Serve Somebody This Salad

Once a month my food blogger group meets to brainstorm and chow down on a potluck of blogging quality dishes.  In other words, food must taste great and must look great because there will be lots of lips smacking and cameras flashing.  Just a little pressure I must say.  So I look high and low for inspiration and with the sweet and/or savory stars aligned, I got my idea...

Since I'm very partial to salads in general, and salads including potatoes in particular, and because Rosh Hoshanah is right around the corner, and one of my mother's staple Jewish holiday salads takes potatoes then adds beets, onions, and hard boiled eggs to a Moroccan inspired, Russian influenced palate pleasing place, I have my recipe well underway.  To make it my own, I substitute shallots for onions (more delicate I think), and for a twist on the traditional vinaigrette I use cream style horseradish instead of mustard.  Lots of chopped parsley sprinkled on top brings the salad to life and there's nothing left to do but dig in.

At the FBLA meeting, thanks to the generosity of Melissa's Produce Company www.melissas.com, I was able to give each blogger a bag of Dutch yellow potatoes, a jar of cream-style horseradish, a package of ready-to-eat beets, and a small bag of shallots.  With my salad as inspiration, I'm hoping that other recipes using all or any of these items will be created and shared in the blogosphere soon.

P.S.  Thanks to my blogger friends for inspiring me to keep on bloggin'!


Jewish Holiday Potato & Beet Salad
1 lb. Dutch yellow potatoes

1 pkg. steamed-peeled beets, cubed                                           
2 eggs, hard boiled and chopped
1-2 shallots, diced
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar
1 Tbsp. beet juice
3 Tbsp. cream-style horseradish
sea salt and fresh ground black pepper
3 cups chopped romaine lettuce or spinach or arugula or whatever you like
3/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

Steam potatoes about 15 minutes.  Let cool enough to handle then cut into cubes.

To make the dressing, whisk the oil, lemon juice, vinegar, beet juice, and cream-style horseradish together.  Season with sea salt and fresh ground black pepper.  Set aside for just a little while.

Line the bottom of a large serving bowl with the greens of your choice.  Put the potato cubes on top of the greens.  Put the cubed beets on top of the potatoes.  Put the chopped eggs on top of the beets.  Put the diced shallots on top of the eggs.  Sprinkle the chopped parsley over everything.  Pour as much dressing as you like over the salad.  Let everyone see how fantastic it looks.  Now you can toss it and serve.


Variations:  Add capers or celery or olives (black or green) or cilantro or pine nuts or pepitas or whatever you like.  Actually the Russian version usually has carrots but I thought that would be too sweet for me.  

Once a month my food blogger group meets to brainstorm and chow down on a potluck of blogging quality dishes.  In other words, food must taste great and must look great because there will be lots of lips smacking and cameras flashing.  Just a little pressure I must say.  So I look high and low for inspiration and with the sweet and/or savory stars aligned, I got my idea...

Since I'm very partial to salads in general, and salads including potatoes in particular, and because Rosh Hoshanah is right around the corner, and one of my mother's staple Jewish holiday salads takes potatoes then adds beets, onions, and hard boiled eggs to a Moroccan inspired, Russian influenced palate pleasing place, I have my recipe well underway.  To make it my own, I substitute shallots for onions (more delicate I think), and for a twist on the traditional vinaigrette I use cream style horseradish instead of mustard.  Lots of chopped parsley sprinkled on top brings the salad to life and there's nothing left to do but dig in.

At the FBLA meeting, thanks to the generosity of Melissa's Produce Company www.melissas.com, I was able to give each blogger a bag of Dutch yellow potatoes, a jar of cream-style horseradish, a package of ready-to-eat beets, and a small bag of shallots.  With my salad as inspiration, I'm hoping that other recipes using all or any of these items will be created and shared in the blogosphere soon.

P.S.  Thanks to my blogger friends for inspiring me to keep on bloggin'!


Jewish Holiday Potato & Beet Salad
1 lb. Dutch yellow potatoes

1 pkg. steamed-peeled beets, cubed                                           
2 eggs, hard boiled and chopped
1-2 shallots, diced
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar
1 Tbsp. beet juice
3 Tbsp. cream-style horseradish
sea salt and fresh ground black pepper
3 cups chopped romaine lettuce or spinach or arugula or whatever you like
3/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

Steam potatoes about 15 minutes.  Let cool enough to handle then cut into cubes.

To make the dressing, whisk the oil, lemon juice, vinegar, beet juice, and cream-style horseradish together.  Season with sea salt and fresh ground black pepper.  Set aside for just a little while.

Line the bottom of a large serving bowl with the greens of your choice.  Put the potato cubes on top of the greens.  Put the cubed beets on top of the potatoes.  Put the chopped eggs on top of the beets.  Put the diced shallots on top of the eggs.  Sprinkle the chopped parsley over everything.  Pour as much dressing as you like over the salad.  Let everyone see how fantastic it looks.  Now you can toss it and serve.


Variations:  Add capers or celery or olives (black or green) or cilantro or pine nuts or pepitas or whatever you like.  Actually the Russian version usually has carrots but I thought that would be too sweet for me.