Food Day Canada- Easy Caesar Dressing Potato salad

Today is FOOD DAY CANADA  #FoodDayCanada - August 5, 2017.

Anita Stewart

It's a day created by ANITA STEWART, C.M., LLD (Hon), M.A (Gastronomy), P.Ag (Hon)

President of Food Day Canada and Member of the Order of Canada among other distinctions.  

Stewart created the term "culinary tourism" and has been a tireless Champion of Canadian Foods, Restaurants and the talent Chefs who showcase our great products.

I was lucky to be able to spend an afternoon with Anita on a Lentil tour of some amazing restaurants in Toronto.  It was one of my favourite experiences.  She really has her hands on the food pulse of Canada.

You can Join the Party by visiting a Canadian Restaurant that showcases Canadian products or you can visit your local Farmer's Market or Cook something yourself to celebrate our own diversity of delicious food. In honour of Food Day Canada I thought I would use some of my Farmer's Market produce to make a great Summer Salad.

EASY CAESAR DRESSING POTATO SALAD  

RECIPE

Ingredients
1 pt or a small container of Farmer's Market New Potatoes  approx 2-3 pounds depending on size.
1/3 Caesar dressing,  a good ready made one or make your own.
2 Green Onions
1 stalk of celery
1/4 lemon slices
4 hard boiled eggs
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 green pepper chopped
salt, pepper and Paprika to taste and garnish

Directions

Rinse the new potatoes and cut in half and boil in salted water for about 15-20 minutes or until a knife cuts through easily.  To cook your eggs place in a small saucepan and cover with cold water.  Place on the stove and cook on high heat until the water boils rapidly and continue to cook for about 2 minutes.  Turn the heat off and let sit for another 5 minutes and then run under cold water and peel.

Chop the green onions into small pieces.  Dice the green pepper and slice the celery into 1/4 inch pieces.  Finely chop the parsley.

Peel and cut the boiled eggs into halves or quarters or slices depending on how you want to place it into your potato salad.  I just sliced mine in half and placed on the sides.

Once the potatoes are cooked drain and place them in a large bowl and add the Caesar dressing and toss while they are still warm so that the dressing can penetrate the potatoes and add more flavour.  Add the celery, green onions and green peppers and toss.  Squeeze a bit of lemon on top and add the parsley and dress your plate with the eggs and lemon slices and add salt, pepper and paprika on top to season and garnish.

*Optional,  Add some crumbled bacon on top.  I didn't have any or I would have.

Serve at room temperature or place it in the fridge to cool.  Do not let it sit out too long because of the mayo based dressing.

This recipe is a bit of a potato salad twist and inspired by the ingredients I had in my fridge from my Farmer's Market purchases this past week.

Show Food Day Canada what has inspired you and don't forget to add the Hashtags #FoodDayCanada and CanadaisFood to your photos so that Anita Stewart can see your Canadian Food Love.

Saving my Potatoes SALAD

Yukon make these potatoes Gold!..    My Olympic vegetable pun of the day.

While I was cleaning up in my kitchen I pulled out a bag of Yukon Gold potatoes and noticed that they were starting to sprout.  I am getting tired of always having to throw food out so I was trying to think of something pretty easy to make that could keep for a few days and could be great for the summer.

The only thing that came to mind was a creamy comfort food Potato Salad.   So I decided to make some Saving my Potatoes Salad.

Growing up my mom always made potato salads in the summer because she could cook it on the stove and with a few ingredients have something we could eat right out of the fridge for a few days.  That meant less work sweating it out in the kitchen.

My mom's potato salad was always made with a french vinaigrette as her background has French cooking influences.

My Yukon Gold Creamy Potato Salad is a little more mixed up.   More like a fully loaded baked potato and a little side salad all mixed up together.

Ingredients:

5 or 6 Yukon Gold potatoes
1 garlic clove
1 green onion
1 handful of fresh parsley
1 tbsp mustard
2 tbsp sour cream
1/3 cup mayonaisse
1 celery stalk
2 mini pickles
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 strip of cooked bacon
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp dried or fresh chives
salt and pepper to taste

Optional: You could also add Hard Boiled eggs, green or red peppers, or carrots.

Directions:

Cut the potatoes into  1 inch cubes and rinse in water.  You can scrub them and leave the skin on or you can peel them.  I chose to peel them because they weren't super fresh.

In a large pot fill with water 3/4 of the way to the top.   Add salt and potatoes and boil until fork tender, about 15 minutes.

In a large bowl add the garlic clove, I used a rasp to grate it so that you wouldn't get chunks of garlic.   Add the sour cream, mayonnaise, mustard and wine vinegar and mix.  

Chop the celery into a small dice and add to the bowl.   Chop the pickles into tiny pieces and add to the bowl.   Chop the parsley and the green onion into a fine chop and add to the bowl.   Add the smoked paprika and salt and pepper to taste.  Add the chives.

When the potatoes are cooked drain them and toss them into the bowl while they are still warm.   Mix until the potatoes are thoroughly coated with the dressing mixture.  

Crumble or chop the crispy bacon into small pieces and add to the top of the potato salad.

You can serve it warm or cold out of the fridge.    Because it's made with mayonnaise and sour cream do not let it sit out for an extended period of time.


It should make about 4-6 servings depending on how big the potatoes are and how big you like your serving sizes to be.

The only cooking required was the boiling of the potatoes and the cooking of the bacon.   But you could omit the bacon and add other vegetables.  

You can adjust to your preference as it's a very flexible thing to make and great for guests.

One of my favourite summer time foods.