Green Bean & Potato Salad With Lemon-Dill Aioli

This salad is about my favorite thing in the world lately. I made it up which gives me a special feeling of pride about how good it is.

It started with the sauce - something I'd whipped up to serve with grilled salmon. It's so simple yet so delicious - just mayonnaise, lemon juice, fresh dill, garlic, salt and pepper. It only occurred to me as I sat down to write this post that it's actually an aioli...

Then I was thinking about accompaniments to grilled salmon and thought, potatoes and green beans. Then I thought, what if I mixed the sauce with those two things? It sounded promising...

So I steamed some Yukon Golds and blanched some green beans and tossed them with the sauce and voila, my new favorite salad was born! It's a great dish for spring and will be an even better one for summer when fresh beans and new potatoes are coming right out of the garden or the farmers' market. And, I can report, it does go very nicely with grilled salmon.

One of the things I love about this hearty salad is the relative ease of putting it together BUT if you are in a slow food mood and have a little extra time, you could take it one step further by making your own mayo for the aioli.

Please note that this is a flexible recipe so these amounts are just a rough guide - you should taste as you go and adjust as you see fit. And if you want to throw other ingredients into the salad that sound good to you, you should. Without further ado, enjoy!

-- print recipe --

Green Bean & Potato Salad With Lemon-Dill Aioli

Serves 4 as a side

Ingredients

For the salad

* 4 cups of fresh green beans, rinsed with the ends trimmed off

* 3 large or 4 medium potatoes, scrubbed and chopped into equal-sized cubes (I like Yukon Gold or Yellow Finn for this salad)

* Tray or two of ice cubes and lots of cold water

For the aioli

* 1 tsp sea salt

* 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

* 3/4 cup mayonnaise

* 2-3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed (go heavy if you like garlic, light if you don't!)

* 3-4 tsp fresh lemon juice

* 3 tsp fresh dill, chopped

Directions

1. Make the aioli by combining all the sauce ingredients and stirring well. Taste and adjust the flavors as needed. It's okay if it seems a bit salty and garlic-y - remember, this is going to cover a whole lot of unseasoned vegetables.

2. Place the cubed potatoes in a steamer pot over an inch or so of water and steam, covered until tender when pierced with a fork, roughly 15-20 minutes, depending on the size of the cubes.Then remove from the pot and allow to cool slightly.

3. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to the boil. Then add the green beans and blanch then until they're just a little bit tender but still bright green - probably 3-4 minutes or so. While they're cooking, prepare a large pot of very cold water mixed with ice cubes so that you'll have it at the ready to put the blanched beans in - this is important so that you can stop the cooking process (otherwise, they'll continue to cook and end up overdone). Once the beans are done, remove them from the water with a slotted spoon or by pouring them into a colander, then place them in the ice water bath for 5 minutes to ensure that the cooking stops.

4. Combine the steamed potatoes, blanched beans and the sauce, stirring with a large spoon to ensure that everything gets well-coated with the aioli and serve. Goes amazingly well with grilled or poached salmon, grilled chicken, burgers or really anything you can throw at it.

You might also like:

• Roasted Fingerling Potatoes With Garlic, Herbs & Sea Salt
• Lemon Aioli With Roasted Beets, Oven Fries & Steamed Asparagus
• Curried Potato Salad

Want even more recipes, photos, giveaways, and food-related inspiration? "Like" the Garden of Eating on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter or Pinterest.

For Your Post-Egg Hunt Enjoyment

Howdy all, just wanted to put four simple, yummy recipes in front of you in case you'll be facing an army of hard-boiled eggs after happy hunting tomorrow. And I've got several nice Passover recipes at the bottom of the post, too.

Happy Easter, Happy Pesach and Happy Spring to all!

Classic Deviled Easter Eggs

Curried Egg Salad

Sriracha, Cilantro, Scallion Deviled Eggs

Egg Salad with Fresh Dill and Celery

You might also like these Passover recipes:

• Fresh Horseradish
• Oven Roasted Asparagus With Garlic
• Short Ribs With Root Vegetables & Spring Herbs

Or these egg recipes:

• Frittata With Chevre, New Potatoes & Fresh Herbs
• Grandpa Joe's Eggs
• Spinach & Cheese Strata
• Spinach, Onion, Thyme & Cheese Quiche

Want even more recipes, photos, giveaways, and food-related inspiration? "Like" the Garden of Eating on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter or Pinterest.

Farro Salad With Roasted Winter Squash, Spinach & Chèvre

Spring is here but I still have a ton of winter squash sitting in the pantry. And they're not getting any younger...

So I decided to make one of my favorite lunches - a hearty farro salad with roasted delicata squash, baby spinach, goat cheese, a sprinkling of dried cranberries and toasted squash seeds, and a light vinaigrette.

I began by roasting the squash since that takes the longest. Just olive oil, salt and pepper is all you need. The roasting brings out the sweetness and the squash has a lovely nutty flavor. We also roasted the seeds as they are really lovely - I like them even better than pumpkin seeds.

Then I cooked up a mess of farro - a lovely ancient grain that is a living ancestor of wheat (it's official name is emmer wheat) that has a truly scrumptious nutty flavor to it and a nice, slightly chewy consistency.

I had some fresh herbs on hand, so I chopped those up and tossed them into the farro, too, since you can't go wrong with fresh parsley, basil and dill.

Then I put the salad together on a bed of baby spinach, topping it with some chunks of chèvre, some of the roasted delicata squash seeds and a small handful of dried cranberries for added hints of sweetness. I drizzled olive oil, white balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper over it all and tucked in.

Heavenly!

-- print recipe --

Farro Salad With Roasted Winter Squash, Spinach & Chèvre

Serves 4

Ingredients 

* 2 large delicata squash (you can also use a single good-sized butternut squash or other winter squash)

* 1 1/2 cups semi-pearled farro

* 3-4 cups salted water or vegetable broth

* 2 tsps each chopped parsley, basil, dill, thyme or cilantro

* A bunch of baby spinach (you can also use arugula or watercress and the amounts are really up to you!)

* Handful of dried cranberries, cherries or raisins

* Handful of roasted pumpkin or squash seeds (optional)

* Goat cheese (as much or as little as you like)

* Olive oil

* Sea salt

* Freshly ground black pepper

* Vinegar of your choice

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375. Toss the squash with several teaspoons of olive oil, sea salt and black pepper then spread in a single layer on a heavy baking sheet. Roast, turning often, for 15-20 minutes or until soft but still toothsome (you don't want the squash to fall apart in the salad.) Remove from the oven and let it cool.

2. While you're roasting the squash, cook the farro (please note that these directions are for the semi-pearled variety which takes about half as long to cook as the other kind.) Rinse the farro in several changes of water, then add it to the water or broth. Bring to a boil and simmer over medium heat for 15-20 minutes, until it reaches the desired consistency - the grains should still have some nice chewiness to them. Then drain the farro and place the grains in a bowl.

3. Toss the farro with olive oil (or walnut or pumpkin seed oil if you've got those on hand - they're even better!) until combined and season to taste with the sea salt and black pepper.

4. Wash and dry the herbs and the baby spinach (or whatever greens you're using). Then mince the herbs and toss with the farro.

5. Compose the salad starting with a bed of the greens, then a layer of farro, then a layer of roasted squash. Dot with goat cheese and toss on the dried cranberries and roasted squash seeds. Drizzle with some olive oil and vinegar, then sprinkle lightly with sea salt and give it all a few grinds of black pepper.

You might also like:

• Kale & Brussels Sprouts Salad With Toasted Almonds & Pecorino Cheese
• Lemon-Scented Quinoa With Tahini & Chickpeas
• Red Cabbage, Lime, Cilantro & Honey Slaw
• Warm Spiced Chickpea Arugula Salad

For more delicious recipes, gardening ideas, foraging tips, and food-related inspiration "like" the Garden of Eating on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter and Pinterest.