Roasted Potato Salad with Mustard and Walnut Vinaigrette and a Harlequin Map Table

The Farmers Market: Roasted Potato Salad with Mustard and Walnut Vinaigrette.  All summer long I've been hooked on "baby" potatoes. I get the medley in red, white and purple. When I came across this recipe earlier in the week on Food52, I was more than excited to find a new way to eat my baby potatoes. One of the nice things about this potato salad recipe is that it uses an olive oil based vinaigrette instead of mayonnaise. Now don't get me wrong here; I could bath in mayo and die a happy girl but the vinaigrette seems to nicely enhance the flavor of the potatoes without overpowering them.  And the two types of mustard and addition of walnuts? That's heaven right there.

Roasted Potato Salad with Mustard and Walnut Vinaigrette

Salad

• 4pounds mixed marble potatoes, or other small potatoes
• 1cup walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
• 1bunch basil, leaves torn into bite-sized pieces
• 1bunch scallions, white and green parts thinly sliced crosswise

Vinaigrette

• 2cloves garlic, peeled
• 1tablespoon whole-grain mustard
• 1tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 2tablespoons lemon juice
• 1tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 2tablespoons roasted walnut oil
• 1/4cup extra-virgin olive oil
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 425° F and line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Wash and dry potatoes, then spread evenly between baking sheets. Drizzle with olive oil and toss to evenly coat potatoes. Sprinkle with freshly-ground black pepper and sea salt, then roast, shaking the pans occasionally, until potatoes are tender and browning (about 45 minutes, depending on the size of your potatoes).
3. Meanwhile, prepare vinaigrette. Place garlic cloves on a cutting board, sprinkle with a generous couple pinches of sea salt, and chop and mash with the side of your knife until the clove breaks down into a salty paste.
4. Add garlic paste to a small bowl along with mustards, lemon juice, and vinegar. Whisk to emulsify. Add olive and walnut oils and whisk vigorously to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning with additional sea salt and pepper.
5. When potatoes are done, transfer to a large bowl. Add scallions and dressing, and toss to coat. Using the back of a mixing spoon or the end of a wooden spatula, roughly smash some of the potatoes to break the skins. You’re not making mashed potatoes, but breaking the potatoes down will allow them to soak up more of the vinaigrette.
6. Allow dressed potatoes to sit at room temperature for about 45 minutes to one hour. Just before serving, stir in walnuts and basil.

The Find:  Harlequin Map Table and a Bonus Tin Treat.  This week's find was once a lonely dark table shoved in the very back corner of a yard sale.  The design alone called to me from the driveway. I love its simple lines and bottom shelf.

Maybe one day, far , far away, I'll get tired of using maps in my work. But I seriously doubt it. Just looking at a map ignites my wanderlust spark. Lately, I've been knee deep in  bright paints for my Little Free Library design work. On this table though, I decided to go soft.

The fun bonus find for this week is another yard sale find. In keeping with the travel theme, I found an airplane whirligig made entirely of Pepsi cans. I spied this piece on the corner of a front porch and it was getting ready to be put out with the trash. Price = FREE.

The Monster Avocado Toast Sandwich and A Ten Commandments Revival

The Farmers Market: The Monster Avocado Toast Sandwich.  This week's trip to the farmers market includes simple ingredients that are plentiful and easy to find.  One of my favorite breakfast sandwiches of all time is an avocado fried egg sandwich on toast.  A few days ago I found a great recipe on Food52 for The Monster Avocado Toast Sandwich which elevates my regular morning favorite to a whole new level. With so many healthy add-ins, this is no longer just for breakfast. I think this sandwich is just the answer when you want something easy and healthy for dinner on those nights when you want to spend as little time in the kitchen as possible.  I've made some very minor adaptations to the original ingredients but once you see how simple this is to throw together, I'm sure you'll have your own adaptations too.

The Monster Avocado Toast Sandwich
2 pieces of your favorite kind of toast
1/2 of an avocado
Fresh ground pepper
sea salt
Pesto (I used homemade because my mother had a bumper crop of basil)
A few thin slices of cucumber
2 slices of tomato (I used a yellow heirloom)
2 thick slices of fresh mozzarella
A small handful of greens (I used romaine but spinach would work nicely too)
1 fried egg

1. On one slice of toast, smash the avocado with a fork, spread from end to end, and sprinkle sea salt and black pepper.

2. On the other slice of toast, spread a nice layer of pesto.

3. Distribute the fillings between the two pieces of toast and smash it all together into one big sandwich of love.

The Find: A Ten Commandments Revival. I really can't express how excited I was when I found this vintage gold plated ten commandments charm bracelet at a local thrift store. For starters, I'm a freak for old charm bracelets. The fact that the charms have the ten commandments etched on to them is a solid score for me.



It really should come as no surprise that I opted to transform the bracelet into a one of a kind sparkling necklace. A little bit of drilling, some sparkling crystal beads,, costume pearls and some recycled chain was all it took to end up with this:

The necklace will be for sale in my Etsy store. You'd better hurry though; with the pope visiting my town in September it might not be around for long ;)