A year ago this week, Nathan and I woke up early, dressed in our finest, stood in a freezing rainstorm on the beach and became legally committed to each other. (Luke was an 8-month-old fetus at that point, so we were already quite committed in every other way.) I'd like to say the day was perfect in every detail, complete with gloriously warm weather to highlight the promises we were making to each other. However, I was enormously pregnant and soaking wet and shivering my way through the ceremony while our witnesses clutched umbrellas and endured an uncharacteristically frigid May day. Despite the ridiculously awful weather, it was a beautiful day.
Our good friend John performed the ceremony, speaking beautiful words about marriage equality, adventure, and commitment. Nathan and I held hands and spoke our carefully thought out vows and we all had a champagne toast. (Yes, even pregnant me. Because my wedding was not happening without a few sips of celebratory champagne.) Afterwards, John, his wife Freddie, Nathan and I and our other guests had a delicious brunch together and celebrated with french toast and smoked salmon eggs benedict.
A year later, our whole family --Nathan, Luke and I-- went over to Freddie and John's for dinner. We sat on their porch in the glorious evening sun, chatted about life, food, Luke's little quirks, and their new house. Most importantly, Freddie introduced us to this salad. The salad that is likely to become a fixture in our family's regular rotation of meals. The salad that will feature prominently on our table this summer. A one-bowl salad that covers all the necessary food groups: vegetable, protein, starch and bacon. Satisfyingly crunchy, salty, tangy and creamy, this salad blew my mind.
It blew Luke's mind, too. As you know, my dear adorable son is sadly not a foodie. This crushes me. Every time I fix a savory stir fry, a fruity pancake, or a tasty soup and he flings most of it on the floor, I'm crushed. But this salad? Luke ATE this salad. He ate bits of smoked salmon, bites of roasted potato, the (accidental) odd piece of green bean and even some crumbles of bacon. Not only when we ate it the first night, with Freddie and John, but two nights later when I was so fixated on the deliciousness of the salad that I had to make it again- a huge bowl of it that Nathan and I nearly polished off in one sitting.
I can't think of a higher vote of confidence for this salad: My son ate it.
The recipe came from the PCC website, but I made quite a few changes and additions. It's a perfect salad for Eyeballing it because you can make whatever tweaks suit your fancy. No measurements are necessary and winging it is highly encouraged. (In fact, this salad is kind of a perfect analogy for Nathan's and my first year of marriage: winging it got us through this year, and we sure didn't do anything by the book but here we are on the other side, all the better for it.)
Creamy Potato, Green Bean, and Salmon Salad
1/2 lb green beans (cooked in boiling water for 4 minutes, then blanched immediately in ice water, chopped into 1" pieces)
1.5-2 lbs roasted new potatoes (roast salt/pepper/olive oil-covered wedges for about 20-30 minutes at 400F)
4 oz crumbled smoked wild salmon
1/2 cup toasted walnuts
1/4 cup red or green onion, finely diced
2 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
Aioli dressing
1/4 cup mayonaise
1/4 cup nonfat yogurt
juice of one lemon
1 T red wine vinegar
salt/pepper to taste
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/3-1/2 cup fresh herbs- whatever you've got- minced
Mix all aioli ingredients together.
Put the green beans, roasted potatoes (best if they're room temperature), salmon, walnuts, green/red onion and bacon in a bowl, then add the dressing and gently stir to combine.
Possible modifications: Use more yogurt/less mayo to make it more healthy. Use Greek yogurt to make it more creamy. Use less garlic to make it less pungent. Experiment with the herb combination- I used mint, basil, and parsley, but Freddie's version used sage and thyme and it was awesome! Leave out the wine vinegar to make it less tangy.
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