Purple Potato & Micro Greens Salad
Like all Kiwi Bloggers I haven’t had the heart to post this week after events in Christchurch, it has affected us all and our hearts go out to all the families directly affected. A simple dish for complicated times, made from iconic New Zealand potatoes.
It’s not something you see often in the veggie store but I can’t resist these little purple gems when they are in season. They are known as Maori potatoes in New Zealand because they are one of the original crops cultivated by the Maori people, although purple potatoes would have originated from the Americas and introduced across the world by explorers. Here’s a bit of information on the varieties in NZ.
They are very seasonal and a little more work cleaning than regular spuds since they are small and knobbly but watching everyone’s face when you serve them is certainly worth the effort. They taste like a ‘new’ season baby potato, a little sweeter than regular spuds. I had also fund some micro greens; snow peas and purple basil from the local farmers market and was very excited about mixing the two ‘uncommon’ products together. I have used a tangy sweet dressing with coriander and parsley but of course you could use any dressing. If you can’t get any cool looking spuds like these you can always replace them with new season baby potatoes.
Ingredients – dressing for 1kg potatoes
- large handful parsley, finely chopped
- handful coriander, finely chopped
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp white vinegar or white wine vinegar
- 1/2 tbsp caster sugar
Method
- Combine all ingredients together and toss through cooked cool potatoes.
Funny, yesterday I was just thinking that I wanted some urenike, or other purple potatoes. Tomorrow I will try to go tho the Oratia Farmers market to see if I can find some.
I put your blog on my blog roll
have a good week end
ciao
A.
GREAT colours! A pinch of smoked paprika on top would look vivid too. Gonna find me some purple tatties as soon as I can.
Fabulous idea, the paprika would another another vivid colour and great flavour. Next time ;0)
the photo is just so beautiful, its a shame I cant get those little darling spuds here, still looking for yams !!!!
Rare as hens teeth here usually but this year there seems to be plenty about
Gorgeous plate of food. The two colours go so well together.
Mix leftover cooked purple spuds with eggs for friiters and the mixture comes out very blue! And is a very yummo base for adding all sorts of other flavoursome vege and fish or meats.
Yes that would make a very cheerful breakfast! I love these little spuds so much I am going to plant my own.
I didn’t even know there were such things as purple potatoes!