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Seasonal Family Almanac: Recipes, Rituals and Crafts to Embrace the Magic of the Year
Lemon-Miso Potato and Green Bean Salad
November 27, 2012
Dinner
Every month in 2016 I’ll share four recipes as part of Dr. John Douillard’s 3-Season Diet Challenge. My intention is to help you discover the glow we can feel – inside-out – when we eat with the rhythm of the seasons. Each new harvest brings us into balance with the sun, snow, warmth, cold and other changes in the natural world and in our bodies. Starting with this recipe, I invite you to join me in savoring this month’s flavors while experiencing the personal transformation that can come from this ancient Ayurvedic approach to food! (Find more 3-Season Diet Challenge recipes in the categories to the left (under “Recipes”) or in the search bar above.) Enjoy!
If you have a winter CSA, or are trying to eat with this season’s bounty, you may very well be tired of potatoes by now. Don’t fret! This recipe will brighten your mood and give a Frisch Twist to the traditional potato salad. I love topping a bowl of this salad with an soft-boiled egg, swirling the yolk in with the potatoes as I munch away!
The dressing in this recipe was inspired by my roommate in Ecuador, Sara – who was from Valencia in Spain. We shared an apartment for two years in the heart of Quito, working on separate research projects related to indigenous farming movements and farm-to-city food systems. Along with our third roommate – Ana, from Chiapas, Mexico – we had a lively and multi-cultural kitchen. Sara taught me how to incorporate raw onions into dressings. This would seem like an abomination. To me, raw onions always spelled bad-breath and belly-burning, even when topped on a burger. But I learned that saturating chopped onions in lemon juice helps take away the bite completely, without sacrificing that flavor punch you get from alliums (like garlic, spring onions and leeks).
The miso found its way into this dressing by way of my Chinese aunt, who taught me how to use Asian ingredients. As a fermented food, miso helps boost our immune-system because it’s made with natural bacteria that process soy beans into paste. It’s a bold flavor that adds a sweet, salty hue to any dressing, and whisks in ever-so-smoothly. I add a teaspoon, at least, to nearly every dressing or soup I make!
PrintLemon-Miso Potato and Green Bean Salad
You can substitute the miso in this recipe for a soy-free version like this one from Great Eastern Sun.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 servings 1x
Ingredients
Scale
- 1/4 cup diced yellow onion
- 2 tablespoons white miso
- 2 tablespoon fresh-squeezed lemon juice
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1.5 cups pre-cooked green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 4 cups coarsely chopped pre-cooked potatoes
Instructions
- In a small bowl whisk together the onion, miso, lemon juice, olive oil, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Set aside while you prepare your potatoes and green beans. The longer the onions sit in the dressing, the more tame their “bite” will be.
- Steam the green beans in a pan with water or in a pot with a steaming basket.
- Prepare the potatoes by boiling or baking them. If boiling, cut the potatoes into pieces first – they will cook much faster. Submerge in a pot of cold water, bring to a boil and continue to boil for about 20 minutes, until fork-tender. If baking, poke the potatoes with a fork and wrap in foil. Bake at 350 for about 1 hour. Once cooked, cool and cut into pieces.
- In a large bowl, toss the potatoes and green beans with the lemon-miso dressing.
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