Summer Garden Potato Salad | Cooking with Rania
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Rania Harris is getting us ready for a summer picnic. She's in the kitchen with Katie O'Malley making a garden potato salad.
Summer Garden Potato Salad
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
- 1 large clove of garlic – minced
- 2 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 ½ pounds baby gold potatoes
- 5 ounces farm fresh green beans – stems removed
- ½ cup pitted Castelvetrano olives – halved
- 1/3 cup pitted Nicoise olives
- 2 – 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ cup fresh small basil leaves
- ¼ cup fresh dill – stems removed
- ¼ cup fresh parsley leaves
- 2 tablespoons melted brown butter or more to taste (see note)
- Zest of one lemon
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Directions:
In a small bowl, combine the shallots, garlic, vinegar and lemon juice. Set aside while preparing the remainder of the recipe.
In a medium pot, combine the potatoes with a good amount of salt with cold water. Bring the pot to a boil and then lower the heat to cook the potatoes until tender. Be careful to not overcook them, as they could get mushy. Drain the potatoes in a colander and when cool enough to handle, cut them into halves. If they are too large, cut them into quarters. It's best to use small gold potatoes for this recipe.
Add water to another pot and bring to a boil. Add a good amount of salt and blanch the green beans until they turn a bright green. Immediately remove the beans from the boiling water and plunge them into an ice cold water bath to prevent them from continuing to cook. This will keep the color of the beans bright green and the beans will remain crisp. Drain them and then cut them into 1 ½ inch pieces on the diagonal.
Toss the potatoes, beans, both olives with the shallot mixture in a medium bowl. Add the shallot and garlic mixture and olive oil. Gently toss to coat the salad. In another bowl, combine the fresh herbs. Place the potato salad onto an attractive platter and drizzle with the brown butter to taste. Finish the dish by adding the lemon zest, fresh herb mixture, salt and pepper to taste.
To make brown butter: Cook unsalted butter over medium-low heat until it starts to foam and brown bits start to form at the bottom of the pan. This will take a few minutes, but be careful not to overcook and burn the butter. Remove the pan from the heat and immediately pour the butter into a heatproof container. I always keep a container of brown butter in my refrigerator as it is wonderful on pasta sprinkled with cheese.
