Texture of potatoes is key when you use it in a salad. Here are a few suggestions on how to get it right.
- Sweet potatoes headed for salads are often roasted, but boiling a peeled, whole sweet potato turns out to be a faster way to go: typically, 12 minutes in boiling water. For this technique, it’s best to choose potatoes that are long rather than fat — no more than 2 1/2 inches in diameter at the centre.
- Save those sweet potato peelings; drizzle them with olive oil and roast for 12 minutes at 400 degrees. Cool and crumble/toss into your favourite potato salad.
- Sweet potato chunks bound for the oven or grill basket will hold their seasoning better when they have first been tossed with a minimal amount of olive oil, vinegar, orange juice or even water.
- Boil fingerling potatoes whole, cool completely, then use the bottom of a Pyrex glass measuring cup to gently press each potato so it’s just smashed yet holds together.
- Potato salads can be composed: Toss 1/4-inch, skin-on sweet potato rounds with olive oil and herb salt before roasting for 20 to 25 minutes at 375 degrees; layer them, tian style, with sliced vegetables and cheeses.
- Treat just-boiled potatoes to a generous splash of plain rice vinegar or malt vinegar. As they cool, they’ll soak in extra flavour.
- Wondering what to do with that gift bottle of flavoured oil in your pantry? Coat potatoes for roasting; sprinkle them with sea salt, too. Cool completely before cutting.
- To better preserve their colour, cook small purple potatoes whole. Paler slices come from potatoes that were cut in half before boiling.
- Potato salad can be as simple as boiled California Golds, pesto, salt and pepper. Cut or slice the cooked spuds.
— Washington Post
