The Endive Chronicles

Sorry for the random photo of my dishes! The movers come on Monday and my house has been turned upside down, inside out and may possibly have been hit by a small centralized hurricane. I have made this recipe a thousand times before, but I just couldn’t find time this week. When I am all settled in Seattle I promise to post a picture.

On to what we are really here for, my Smoked Salmon Potato Salad.

As Memorial Day grows ever closer many of you will be dusting off your barbecue or possibly attending the first parties of the season. This could present a bit of a problem as I imagine that several of you will be in need of a really fabulous side dish. This year forget the sketchy glop that passes for potato salad at the grocery store and give my Smoked Salmon Potato Salad a try.

I am sure many of you probably just let out a low groan. Whether it’s because you are bored with the same old potato salad or just dread peeling all of those potatoes, I don’t know. What I do know, is that this will very likely be different than any other potato salad you’ve had and you don’t even need to peel the potatoes . . . unless you want to. This salad stands alone in a sea of boring picnic fare as something fresh and lively, yet familiar.

The seeds of this idea were planted a few years ago at the backyard barbecue given by my neighbor Jo. The guest responsible for bringing the potato salad was our friend (and old school Johnson&Wales student) John, who has made an art form out of blending comfort and rustic American cuisine. John brought his herb packed three potato salad that not only wowed the crowd, but firmly planted itself in my brain. In the beginning my intention was to recreate his dish and actually did pretty well, but I am not the sort of person who is easily satisfied with copying someone else’s creation. Queue the recipe below.

Smoked Salmon Potato Salad

Serves 4-6

Olive oil

6 medium red or Yukon Gold potatoes, whole roasted, cooled, quartered and sliced

4-6 oz. smoked salmon*, flaked into smaller pieces

1 cucumber, peeled seeded and diced

1/3 cup good quality mayonnaise

2-3 TBS Dijon mustard, (my favorite is Maille)

1 TBS freshly squeezed lemon juice

Zest of one lemon

2 TBS caper, soaked and rinsed to remove the excess salt

3 sprigs of fresh thyme, remove the leaves and discard the stem

A handful of fresh basil, roughly chopped

A handful of fresh flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped

1 large garlic clove, smashed and minced

Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Kosher or Sea salt, optional (I recommend you taste it first and then decide)

Preheat the oven to 400F

Rub the potatoes with olive oil and roast in a pan for 60 minutes. Allow the potatoes to cool before slicing.

For the dressing; combine, mayonnaise, Dijon, juice, zest, capers, thyme, basil, parsley, garlic, pepper and salt together in a medium bowl. Add in the cooled potatoes and cucumbers, stirring to coat before folding in the salmon. Chill in the fridge for at least 60 minutes before serving.

*You can actually leave out the salmon if you wish. This recipe can stand very well on it’s own without it.

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