I’m calling today my first official day out of lockdown/quarantine/what have you. Today was the first time since mid-March I was able to leave the house to go practice yoga in a studio. In 3-D. With people. I’m marking this return to my normal Monday routine (10am slow flow followed by a walk home with a stop to buy this week’s groceries and sushi for lunch) as a return to the flow of normal life.
Still no big group coffees or breakfasts out, and I don’t think I’ll be piling into an Uber willy nilly just to wander the mall for the a/c walking because I’m bored during the week – but it does mark a mindset change.
I’m now staying home because I prefer snuggling my pups, crafting and crossing animals to the alternatives; not staying home because I “have” to. I *could* up and hit the a/c walking mall on a Wednesday – things are open and I can sit and have a coffee.
Which is kind of an odd thing to be wrapping my mind around.
This dressing, which was based on an everything dressing posted by one of the blogs I’ve been following long enough to be on its mailing list but whose name escapes me as I’m sitting down to type this up (maybe First Mess?) is fantastic and I could see it being equally as good on vegetarian as meat dishes (I served my salad with some simple seared salmon and it was delicious), and even great on salads. I would also stir this into some nice rice or orzo for a little quick saucy flavor boost. Yum.
gluten-free, paleo, pescatarian, vegetarian, could be made vegan, FODMAP friendly
Potato Salad with Damn Good Dressing
Salad
1/2 kg new potatoes (or other small variety that doesn’t turn to mush when boiled)
4 – 6 hard boiled eggs
2 big hands arugula
Dressing
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup water
2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
2 Tbsp. soy sauce or coconut aminos
1/5 tsp. flax seeds
1 tsp. sturdy brown mustard
2 tsp. lemon juice
3/4 cup neutral oil
1 big hand parsley
1/2 bunch chives
1.5 tsp. anchovy paste (you could swap for miso – what you’re after is umami)
Boil your potatoes 10 minutes or until fork-tender. Drain and quarter. Add to a large bowl.
Hard boil your eggs. Peel, quarter and add to the bowl.
Add the arugula.
In your blender or food processor, combine all dressing ingredients. Hit with some salt and pepper. Whiz until the herbs are chopped and the dressing is combined. Taste. Add more salt/pepper/lemon juice as necessary.
Pour about a cup over the still-warm potatoes. Toss to combine and let sit until you’re ready to serve.
I served my first round of this salad room temperature with nicely seared salmon. Subsequent servings have been heated in the microwave with a little dressing added and they’ve also been great. It’s even decent cold and I’m not a fan of cold cold potato salad.
Serves 4? 5? Depends what you’re doing with it. I got 2 dinners + 2 lunches out of it. And I have about 3/4 of a cup of dressing leftover for the rest of the week.
First dinner out since quarantine started in March – had a great evening with friends and it was a nice change of pace from delivery in PJs. Wore my me-made shirt and was super happy to discover I still fit in the skirt I had envisioned wearing. Also: mask be damned: lipstick FTW!
