Grilled Potato Salad With Creamy Herbal Dressing
By: Adelina
Published: Tuesday, July 13, 2010 - 12:11pm

Ingredients




Grilled Potatoes
3 1/2 pounds golden potatoes, quartered
Water
1 tablespoon 1 salt, plus teaspoon, plus more for potato water
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
Salt/Pepper to taste
Grilled Onions
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 Onions, sliced
Creamy Herbal Dressing
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1 cup fresh parsley leaves
1/4 cup purple basil
1/4 cup sweet basil
1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves
1/2 lemon juice
1/2 head of garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup mayo
1/4 cup sour cream
salt/pepper to taste
1/4 cup pine nuts

Preparation

1 Grilled Potatoes 2 In a large saucepan, add the potatoes and cover with water. Salt the water and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook until slightly tender; about 10  minutes. Remove the potatoes from the water to a bowl and let cool. 3 Add 4 tablespoon oil on a stove-top  griddle pan and place half of the potatoes to grill for 5 minutes on each side.  Remove to a serving bowl and reserve and repeat the same cycle for the 2nd half of the potatoes. 4 Grilled Onions 5 In the same griddle pan, add a tablespoon of vegetable oil and grill the sliced onions for about 4 minutes, or until the grill marks are visible. 6 Toasting Nuts 7 In a small saute pan, toast the pine nuts over medium heat until lightly browned. Remove from the heat and set aside. Repeat the same for the slivered almonds. 8 Creamy Herbal Dressing 9 Combine the first 7 ingredients  to a food processor and pulse the ingredients.   While the food processor is running, slowly add the olive oil until the mixture forms into smooth paste.  Combine the herbal paste with the mayo and sour cream and add salt and pepper to your liking. 10 Add the dressing and toasted pine nuts to the potatoes and toss to coat well.  Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. 11 Serve at room temperature or cold.

About


I was asked to bring a potato salad for a family July 4th party.  Well, not really asked... It's more like I volunteered to bring something and my friend suggested that I bring a potato salad.  But because I am such a difficult person, I could not settle for just buying one from the store.  I decided to make my own.
I know it's just a potato salad, but sometimes I complicate things more than I need to.   I went searching for recipes for potato salads.  I was searching for pesto potato salad due to my love for herbs.  I narrowed down to Grilled Potato Salad with Parsley Pesto by Aaron McCargo Jr. -- which inspired me to take his version and make it a little more party friendly.
I did not have enough parsley and pine nuts at home, so I used combination of herbs and nuts.  I also wanted the salad to be more American in celebration of independence day - so I added sour cream and mayo.  My other addition was grilled onions, since I love them so much.
I think this recipe is tasty no matter how you cook, or what type of herbs you end up using.  I don't think if it really matters much at what temperature you serve either.  The end result will be tasty and party friendly.