This saucy pile of potatoes covered in fat and oil is so not diet friendly. Not for the Montignac Method, not for anyone. So I won't be posting the recipe here. It's just that after not posting for over a month I needed to get back into the swing of things. And after spending two days cooking this for a friend's highly esoteric monk fish roasting party someone needed to see this madness. So behold Salade Nicoise a la Julia Child. Or as I will be calling it from now on Bitch Salad.
It seems simple enough until you're boiling those potatoes you can't seem to convince your CSA to stop sending you every week, that your friends are sick of you pawning off on them. About then when it's too late to turn back you really read the recipe and see it is three recipes hidden in a recipe for a freaking salad. Two different vinaigrettes and a potato salad? Seriously?
My potatoes committed some sort of explosive suicide while I was wire whipping (Julia is kind of kinky, I always thought of it as a whisk) the first vinaigrette. At which point I gave up and went to a wine tasting and thought about not cooking for awhile considering everything I've tried to make this week was an epic failure.
My spirits were a little higher this afternoon when I skipped out of work half way through the day and gave the potatoes a stern talking to. They weren't pretty and were over done but with the other vinaigrette coating them they were plenty tasty. I have to give it to Julia Child she is a huge picky fussbudget but it's usually for a reason. That one bite of potato salad was the best I've ever had and not just because I miss potatoes. It was delicious and subtle, with scallions making up most of the favor instead of the unfortunate cloying German mayonnaise and mustard version that is so popular.
The fun really started when I got to pile massive amounts of random vegetables and fish on the potato and lettuce bed. I'm actually surprised at how tasty it looks. Hopefully the carb eaters of the world will enjoy it. If it's a disaster after following all of Julia's wacky instructions I really might make the fella take over the cooking. The one thing I can say for this recipe is it didn't ask me to taste raw eggs to check the seasoning which was an actual instruction last time I cooked out of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Oh that Julia Child she's a character.
2 comments:
You know you may not like me much for pointing this out after having gone through so much effort, but lots of French folks get quite uppity about the idea of having potatoes in a Salade Nicoise. Never no never they say. Personally I like it with the potatoes and yours looks very tasty. I bet you could short cut that recipe and still get great taste! Thanks for sharing.
Dude -- German potato salad DOES NOT have mayonnaise in it. Ever. Blech.
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