Spinach Salad with Fingerling Potatoes

Day 7 – I kinda love typing ‘fingerlings’ as it sounds like I’m up to something deliciously naughty.  And I am. Fingerlings are always creamy and delicious. What at treat to have a whole bag of them in my CSA winter share this month. Mmmm.

Ingredients: (for a quick salad for one)For Salad
Good handful of organic, baby spinach leaves
1/4 head broccoli – cut into long-stemmed florets
Handful of cooked green peas – I use organic frozen ones from Trader Joe’s
3-4 Fingerling potatoes, washed and cut into edible chunks
Handful of dried cranberries.
Pinch of nutritional yeast

Vinaigrette:
1 Tblspn balsamic vinegar
3Tblsps Good olive oil
Good pinch of ground sea salt

Put fingerling potatoes in a pan, pour over boiling water. Simmer for ten minutes. (I always boil the water in a kettle then add it to the pan, as it seems to boil faster. If you don’t have a kettle, just boil the water in the pan with the potatoes in it).

I add the broccoli florets to a steamer, place above the potatoes after they have started boiling. I added the peas after five minutes, so they cook for five minutes.

Meanwhile, wash (if not already washed) and dry the spinach, arrange on a nice plate.

Drain the cooked potatoes, peas and broccoli, place back in the saucepan and sprinkle with a little nutritional yeast.

Pour over the spinach.

Add the dried cranberries

Toss with the vinaigrette.

To Make the Vinaigrette:
for years, I was making vinaigrette all wrong and wondering why it tasted funny. When I was in France, a French friend had shown me how to make it with mustard and the 2:1 formula – two tablespoons of olive oil to one tablespoon of vinegar, and to emulsify the vinegar with the mustard before adding the olive oil. I could never get it to taste nice. Then, I discovered this recipe in the Larousse cookbook and I have never looked back. I make mine in a screwtop jar, but you can use whatever you prefer.

Put a large pinch of ground sea salt in a screwtop jar with the balsamic vinegar. Shake it up, to dissolve the salt. Then, add the olive oil. Shake again. Voila! Delicious dressing. You can add garlic if you like, but I never think it needs anything else. Make sure you use flavourful balsamic and olive oil. They don’t have to be too expensive. I use the ‘super premium’ Fairway Balsamic Vinegar of Modena – it is very smooth – and their Pugliese organic olive oil. I find they work really well together and create a vinaigrette that is just the right mixture of tangy and sweet.