Last month I signed up for a blogging contest through the Food Bloggers of Canada. The contest is sponsored by The Little Potato Company which operates out of Edmonton, Alberta. The Little Potato Company is not only committed to growing great potatoes, but doing so in ways that help make potatoes a sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative in our pantries.
The challenge was to create a recipe using their potatoes. To give us plenty of opportunity to do the job right, we received not only bags of the potatoes, but coupons as well. As I looked through the varieties of potato available, I noticed that they sold a product called the Terrific Trio, which featured blue, white, and red potatoes, ou en Francais, bleu, blanc, et rouge. The colours of my favourite hockey team.
As I tried out the various samples I had received, I learned a couple of things. The main one being that the blue potatoes don’t hold their colour as well when boiled. They taste great, they’re just not as blue. Besides if I wanted something blue that faded when it got into hot water, I’d make a dish honouring the Maple Leafs.
I kept pondering, what kind of recipe can I create that would pay homage to Les Canadiens. I found that when roasted the blue potatoes more fully retained their colour. But a roast potato dish on it’s own seemed a little to run of the mill. So, in the end, I came up with a roast smashed potato salad. I’m calling it Potato Salad aux Glorieux. By the way, the colours work just as well if you’re a Jets fan. On to the recipe
Potato Salad Recipe:
2 – 680g bags Little Potato Company Terrific Trio creamed potatoes
250g Maple flavoured bacon (feel free to use more)
1- Large Granny Smith Apple
1- Large Red Bell Pepper
1/2 – Red Onion, chopped semi-fine
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
Canola Harvest Canola Oil, recommended by Ellen Pruden.
1/4 cup Frescolio Herbes de Provence Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
Cave Aged Gruyere – Apparently it’s tended by Bruins and Flyers fans, notable cave dwellers all. The Gruyere choice was based on the recommendation of one of my favourite francophone businesspeople, Fabienne Boulanger of Le Croissant. You can read more of what I think of the place at this post.
Preparation:
I started off by cooking the bacon in a frying pan and letting it cook until it was crisp. Not having a flat top, I did this at medium heat. While this was cooking I emptied the bags of Little Potato Company potatoes into a shallow roasting pan. I cut a few of the larger ones in half for more even cook. I then drizzled Canola oil over them and dusted them with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
Giving the potatoes about 25 minutes at 375 degrees (apartment sized oven), made sure they were soft. When I took the potatoes out of the oven I drained the excess Canola oil and put them in a large plastic bowl to cool.
While they were cooling I crumbled the crisp cooked bacon into a small bowl. I then added the bacon to the potatoes and proceeded with the smashing. I then chopped the apple, red pepper, and red onion to the mixture. Stirring them all around, I gave it a little taste, and thought not bad, but nothing to brag or blog about.
Then I added the Herbes en Provence EVOO. Talk about a dish coming to life. Not only was the whole dish more flavourful, but each of the elements came more to life. Finally, I top each individual serving with grated Gruyere which further enhanced the salad.
Enjoying the Salad
I had been preparing the salad prior to putting together Christmas hampers with some members of my parish. This gave me an immediate opportunity to have an audience sample it. The comments were overwhelmingly positive. Especially one parishioner who said that she doesn’t like potatoes, but really liked the salad. I hope this recipe is good enough to put me over the top in this contest. If the recipe sounds good, feel free to share, like, comment, etc.
By the way, this is a great dish if you’re looking to bring a little something different to any holiday potlucks you may be forced to endure, I mean joyfully be anticipating.