Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Purple Potato Salad

The other day I stumbled across some purple potatoes in the deli section. Their color intrigued me and so I managed to ignore their outrageous price and bought some. I cooked them in their jackets because I was afraid their precious color could fade plus their surfaces were really uneven which would have made it hard to peel them. Then I proceeded with my family's potato-salad recipe, adding a dash of wasabi for extra pizazz.

Their color was a big hit at our dinner table tonight, and so was their taste. I served these with an unbelievably good soup (more of that later) and a kick-ass vegan sandwich: I baked a crusty focaccia and put on some ground horseradish, generous amount of hummus, sundried tomatoes, sliced black olives, avocado slices, broiled tofu, loads of arugula (rocket), cucumbers and ketchup. I'm telling you, my husband really loves me now :-) (I mean, he does anyway, but no man can resist good food :-))


Purple potato salad
Serves two as a side

1/2 pound purple potatoes
1 red onion, diced
1 cup strong vegetable broth (instant)
1-2 tblspoon mustard
1-2 tblspoon balsamic vinegar (depending on how vinegary your mustard is)
a dash of wasabi

1/2 juicy, aromatic apple
2 tblspoon sliced pickled cucumbers

Cook the potatoes in their jackets. Drain, and peel the hot potatoes. Bring the broth to a boil, add the onion and cook for a few minutes. Stir in 1 tblsp mustard and vinegar, taste and add more if you want. The dressing should be quite vinegary and salty.

Slice the potatoes into 1/2 - 1 inch slices, dice the apple, slice the cucumbers. Add everything to the hot dressing and turn off the heat. Let sit for approx. 1/2 hour, stirring every once in a while. The potatoes will start absorbing the dressing and the starch of the potatoes will mix with the liquid resulting in a creamy potato salad - with no fat added. Serve at least at room temperature, preferably a little warm.

For more side salads check out Arugula with white beans, cherry tomatoes, and red onions.

Fat-free depends on the use of fat-free ingredients.
Gluten-free depends on the use of gluten-free ingredients.

7 comments:

Vaishali said...

Potatoes, apples, cucumbers, onions and wasabi...sounds like heaven, Anke. The purple potatoes look lovely and your description of the focaccia sandwich made my mouth water!

Lindsay (Happy Herbivore) said...

I love purple potatoes! I found them when I was in Maui - now I'm hooked... I will buy some at the market on Sunday and make this recipe... I love potato salad and making it purple...even better!

Lizzy said...

I have never seen purple potatoes. I'll look out for them! The salad sure looks pretty and delicious! Your husband's one lucky man ;)

Would you be a darling and send me the recipe for your focaccia? I haven't had it in ages and wow I imagine it to be mindblowing selfmade and fresh out of the oven!

Vegan_Noodle said...

Yay! I just tried purple potatoes last week and loved loved loved them. What great timing, and thanks for the delicious recipe!

Anke said...

@ lizzy: I bought them at Karstadt, they were called "schwarze trüffelkartoffeln", something like that. they are really expensive, but taste great. very mealy, very potato-y, and since potatoes are my favorite food ever, they are no my favorite potatoes.

I roughly explained how I made the focaccia on your blog in the comments section.

Seafarer said...

When I read this post originally, I filed it away in my mind, thinking it would be nice to enjoy a healthy potato salad. Jump forward ten days and I'm walking through the grocery store and spot the purple potatoes out of the corner of my eye. Yes, they came home with me. And yes, that potato salad was exquisite. Creamy and satisfying. Thank you! How exciting that potato salad can reappear onn our lunch menus on a regular basis.

Anke said...

glad you liked it. it's great to get feedback :-)