Taste: Beet & Potato Salad Gribiche

A side or main dish option for your Meatless Monday rotation–suitable for a side or an entree.

It’s easy to get into a food doldrums near the end of winter and beginning of spring. You may find yourself tiring of heavy stews and yet the available produce isn’t your typical salad components.

You need something with nice, herbaceous acidity to wake up winter vegetables and excite your palate. This is the closest thing I would think of as comfort food in salad form. This salad uses root vegetables and a herby, addictive dressing which riffs on the  idea of the French sauce known as Gribiche.

Ingredients

4 Yukon gold potatoes, boiled till soft but not mushy, and thinly sliced

2 beets, boiled or roasted till soft, thinly sliced (Recipe: roasted beets)

2 eggs, boiled and peeled, thinly sliced

4 cornichons (or other sweet pickle), finely chopped

2 TBSP fresh parsley, finely chopped

1 TBSP green onions, finely chopped

1 tsp. capers, finely chopped

1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil

2 TBSP red wine vinegar

1 tsp dijon mustard

Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. This salad can be lovely and composed if you’re serving it for a meal or it can be tossed haphazardly into a container if you’re just toting it to work (see my images below). Either way, start with the potatoes and beets and then add your eggs.

2. Place olive oil, vinegar, and mustard in a screw top jar and shake to combine. Pour over salad.

3. Sprinkle dressed salad with pickles, parsley, onions, and capers.

4. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.

5. Try not to make inappropriate sounds of ecstasy if eating in public places.

Shopping Notes

For better flavor and nutrition, steer clear of grocery store eggs if possible. Look for pastured eggs from a local source for a superior flavor and nutritional profile. Your best bets are people with backyard coops, health food stores, and farmers markets. Try this site which lets you search for farms and farmers markets near you.

Eggs are an affordable and delicious nutritional powerhouse that can be enjoyed beyond breakfast. Check out some of Jacques Pepin’s tips for cooking them properly.

Give this recipe a try and let me know what you think in the comments. Thanks!

Discover more about the amazing Jacques Pepin with  Taste: An Evening with Jacques Pepin.

 Want to learn more about Jacques Pepin? Click on the following links to purchase Pepin’s latest cookbook and some of my other favorites by him: A Grandfather’s Lessons: In the Kitchen with Shorey, Fast Food My Way, and The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen. I will receive a portion of the sale from Amazon, which will go toward maintaining my blog. Thanks for your support!