White Wine Infused Potato Salad

Cooked potatoes suck up white wine like I do on a hot summer day. They were made for each other. Let me be clear here, you cannot taste the white wine (At least I don’t think you can - one for me, one for the potatoes...I’m kidding (kinda-not-really)). This recipe uses white wine (I said that already), instead of vinegar. But you can tell all your very impressed friends that you infused white wine into the potatoes. (Seriously how many times am I going to say “white wine”?) All kidding aside, I made this salad up on the weekend to go with lemon and thyme chicken thighs on the BBQ. The weather was warm and the ideas were flowing. Give it a try, it won’t disappoint. 

5 - 6 white potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces

1 bay leaf

2 tbsp white wine

1 tbsp Dijon Mustard

1 shallot, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

Dash of Olive Oil

2 tbsp Bacon Bits

4 tbsp roughly chopped chives

Pinch nutmeg

S&P

2 tbsp Blue Cheese, crumbled (optional)

1. Boil the potatoes with the bay leaf approx 20 min until cooked through. Drain and run under cold water until cool.
2. Mix all remaining ingredients except the cheese in a big bowl.
3. Add potatoes and lightly stir until coated (See! The wine is gone - it's now IN the potatoes, hence the “Infused” part)
4. Top with the Blue Cheese and refrigerate for at least 1 hour for the flavours to blend.

Apple Endive Salad with Sweet and Spicy Pecans

• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• 1 cup whole pecans
• 3 heads Belgian endive, julienned
• 1 Granny Smith apple
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400F.

1. In a medium bowl, combine honey and cayenne. Add nuts and toss until evenly coated with honey mixture. Spread mixture onto parchment lined baking sheet and bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes, or until nuts are toasted. Let cool and shop coarsely.
2. In a large bowl, toss together endive, apple, and honey-spiced pecans. Add lemon juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper. Toss to combine.

Warm Green Onion and Tomato Salad

This is a super easy, tasty, warm salad that uses amazing fresh, local and seasonal ingredients. Sometimes simple is best. Enjoy!

Warm Green Onion and Tomato Salad

2 bunches green onions, trimmed and whole

4 or 5 Campari size tomatoes, quartered

Handful of Parsley, torn

Balsamic Vinegar

Olive oil and Butter

Salt & Freshly Ground Pepper

Add some olive oil and butter into a frying pan and warm up. Add your green onions and wilt for about 5 minutes. 

Place the green onions on a plate and put your tomato quarters on top. Toss on some parsley and drizzle with a little balsamic and season to taste.

Japanese Daikon Salad with Watercress, Creme Fraiche and Grilled Lemon Dressing

This salad uses an Asian Daikon, which is an asian radish. They are available at some Farmer’s Market (Hamilton Farmer’s Market has them) and some grocery stores. My step-mother uses them all the time at family dinners, so when I came across this recipe I thought I’d know what it would taste like. I must have gotten a good one because my Daikon had a very strong radish taste to it. It was a fun salad to put together and you should give it a go.

Peel your daikon and thinly slice it (long thin slices, like linguine) I used the potato peeler to get the long thin strips.

Mix the strips with your watercress and dress with the following dressing:

Creme Fraiche & Grilled Lemon Dressing:

1 large lemon halved

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons creme fraiche or mayo

2 heaping teaspoons Dijon mustard

sea salt, pepper, soy sauce

Broil the lemon halves for 5 minutes until soft and charred. Squeeze the juice into a bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients, mix together and season to taste.