I don’t know about you, but when the weather is nice, I like to do as much cooking out on the grill as possible, and that goes for veggies too. So my potato salad will get its start with the warm garlic infused flavors you see here. The vegetables really don’t need a whole lot of anything else, and would be wonderful sitting alongside some grilled chicken or steak all on their own.
But to make this a “salad” I needed to add a few additional ingredients. Tomatoes and cilantro were added along with a roasted jalapeno vinaigrette to add a little bit of zip.
You’ll want to serve this salad at room temperature to enjoy all of the flavors at their finest, which makes it ideal for the portable picnic. You can make it ahead of time, and if you want to have some fun with this, pick up some Chinese take out boxes at our local craft store, or pack in individual mason jars.
Go ahead and vary the ingredients too, depending on what you find at the market: corn, zucchini, asparagus, all would make excellent candidates for this spin on traditional potato salad.
So what about you? Are you heading anywhere this weekend? I have been traveling a lot these last few weeks, and think that spending a quiet weekend here at home on the back porch sounds just about right. I plan to catch up on my favorite blogs, and can’t wait to see what all of the other participants have come up with this month!
Thanks to our hosts, Natasha of 5 Star Foodie and Lazaro of Lazaro Cooks! who will be posting a round up of all of the recipes on their sites tomorrow. Be sure to check them out!
Grilled Baby Potato & Broccolini Picnic Salad
Garlic Oil (see recipe below)
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 pounds new potatoes
1 pound broccolini
1 large red onion, peeled and sliced into 1/2-inch-thick rings
2 medium tomatoes, diced (red & yellow if available)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place potatoes on a large baking sheet. Drizzle with 1 1/2 tablespoons of garlic oil over potatoes, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly to coat potatoes evenly with garlic oil mixture. Bake potatoes 30 minutes. When potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut in half. Set aside.
Meanwhile, heat a large sauce pan filled with water to boil. Add broccolini, and cook 2 minutes. Transfer broccolini to a colander and rinse under cold water to stop cooking process. Set aside.
Preheat grill to medium high heat. Brush potaotes, broccolini, and red onions with garlic oil. Season with salt and pepper. Place potatoes, onions, and broccolini directly on grill grate.
Cook time:
Broccolini: 2 minutes per side
Potatoes: 5 minutes per side
Onions: 5 minutes per side
Remove vegetables from grill as they finish cooking, and transfer to a large bowl. Cool to room temperature.
Add tomatoes and cilantro to bowl. Add desired amount of dressing (recipe follows) and toss well to combine.
6-8 servings
Dressing:
2 or 3 roasted jalapeno chilies, peeled and seeded
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon Champagne vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
For dressing:
Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor and process until smooth.
Garlic Oil
3/4 cup olive oil
3 heads garlic, excess paper removed, top trimmed
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place garlic in small baking dish. Drizzle olive oil over the garlic. Cover with alluminum foil; bake 1 hour. Remove garlic from oil and cool completely. Reserve garlic oil.