Peggy Lampman's Monday dinnerFeed: Uptown picnic potato salad
You can never be too careful when it comes to mayonnaise-based salads in the warm weather. Though coolers will be available, I'll stay on the safe side and stick with an oil and vinegar-based dressing. You can easily boost the color of this salad with the addition of diced tomatoes. Sliced artichoke hearts, as well, would be excellent in this Provencal-styled salad.
It's the fresh, thinly sliced fennel that directs this salad "uptown". If you have a mandolin, that would be perfect for shaving the fennel bulb. I just used a very sharp knife. Fresh fennel has a lovely, slight anise flavor. Look for firm, globular bulbs that are not shrunken or dried out in any way. Some bruising is inevitable but it's of no concern as the coarser, outer layers are peeled away when the bulbs are prepared for cooking or to be used in salads. Leftover fennel is wonderful grilled or served sautéed as a topping for fish, particularly companionable with halibut.
Yield: 6-8 servings Time: 35 minutes Cost: $9.25
Ingredients1 1/2 pounds small redskin potatoes, washed and quartered 3 cups green beans, trimmed 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard 1 teaspoon fresh chopped tarragon (or pinch of dry tarragon) 1/2 fennel bulb, stalks removed, halved and very thinly sliced (1 heaping cup) 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced 3/4 cup nicoise or pitted kalamata olives
Directions
1. Cover potatoes with 2-inches cold salted water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat slightly and cook 7-9 minutes or just fork-tender. Do not overcook the potatoes as they will continue to soften as they cool in the vinaigrette. 2. Meanwhile whisk the vinegar, oil, Dijon and tarragon together. After draining the potatoes, immediately toss them into the vinaigrette. 3. In another pot, bring salted water to a boil. Blanch the green beans unti crisp-tender, 3-5 minutes. Drain and immediately immerse in ice-cold water. When well-chilled, drain again and pat dry. 4. Add beans, fennel, onion and olives to salad. Season to taste with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.
Comments
Peggy Lampman
Mon, Sep 7, 2009 : 7:26 p.m.
Thanks Vicki-this is a fabulous salad. Our picnic was rained out, sort of, but we did have fun eating and discussing the "heated" topic of vinaigrette VS mayo based potato salads for picnics. We also debated what potato was the best in a potato salad. It was a split between yukon gold and redskins-i love these type of debates! Peggy
Jennifer Shikes Haines
Mon, Sep 7, 2009 : 8:45 a.m.
I should also add that I got truly terrible food poisoning this summer from a fruit product that had been left out for too long, so I'm probably overly-sensitive to those issues right now and may have erred on the side of caution in terms of my original comments. All the points you brought up are, obviously, absolutely correct. Thanks for providing further clarification, too.
Jennifer Shikes Haines
Mon, Sep 7, 2009 : 8:33 a.m.
It sounds, Peggy, like we're in agreement on this - those seemed to be the same points I was making. I always enjoy NPR links. And yes, it's always important not to leave potentially contaminate foods out for too long, which can certainly be an issue at picnics.
Peggy Lampman
Mon, Sep 7, 2009 : 8:09 a.m.
Thanks, Jennifer, for your opinion. Mayo has always been a topic of great debate in health dept. circles. Homemade lemony mayo, the key ingredient in my Old-Fashioned Picnic Potato Salad, although simple to make, becomes unsafe left at room temperature. I choose today's tote cuisine because the vinaigrette flavor is delicious, and-from my sources-safer than if I left out my recipe for Old-Fashioned Picnic Potato Salad recipe. Perishable food, in general, should not be left out more than 2 hours at room temperature-one hour when the temperature is above 90 degrees-not as big an issue today. When food temps go over 40 degrees, bacteria rapidly multiplies. I'm always mindful of labels on processed mayo, as well, indicating to refrigerate after opening. I understand there is much debate on mayo left at room temp. In 2008, I updated my food safety certification license with the health department. I spent a day in training and testing regarding best practices for safe food handling. Food borne illness is serious business. Vegetables, eggs, meat, chicken-so many items can cause illness if handled improperly. Bottom Line: Keep cold foods cold ( below 40) and hot foods hot (above 140) and don't cross-contaminate. I read the link you posted from the "Association for Dressings and Sauces". Here is an NPR link I used when reviewing best practices. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5639903 His answer regarding safety and flavor profile of mayo is well-researched. For me, a gram of prevention allows everyone to enjoy picnics, parties and pot lucks without major concern for food borne illness. Have a great holiday! Will mayonnaise make you sick if you leave the picnic potato salad out too long in this heat? Dr. Doyle: There's an old wives' tale that mayonnaise being added to perishable foods will cause food poisoning. That's not true. Acid is added to mayonnaise to prevent these bad bacteria from growing and producing illness. However, there are certain types of micorganisms -- such as molds and other types of bacteria -- that can spoil mayonnaise. [They] don't make you sick, but they can spoil mayonnaise. So once mayonnaise has been opened, it's important to refrigerate it so that the spoilage bacteria don't grow and cause "off flavors."
Jennifer Shikes Haines
Mon, Sep 7, 2009 : 6:49 a.m.
This looks delicious, Peggy! I love the "dressier" elements. Just in point of fact, though, commercially-made mayonnaise based salads are not any more likely to have issues in a cooler (there are even some helpful preservatives in commercially-made mayonnaise in terms of food safety) - it's actually the veggies that are the bigger issue. Here's a link, and it's one of many, many - it's actually homemade mayonnaise that's the issue: http://www.dressings-sauces.org/foodsafety_picnic.html
vicki
Mon, Sep 7, 2009 : 6:22 a.m.
This is a definite winner for this weekend, Peggy. A good combination of potatoes and green beans. Redskin potatoes make the best potatoe salad!