POTATO AND ENDIVE SALAD

POTATO AND ENDIVE SALAD
A salad plate of chilled potato, sliced Begian endive, hearts of palm and ripe tomato. Served with a fresh basil vinaigrette!
Makes 4 servings

5 T. olive oil
2-1/2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 garlic clove, peeled and grated
1 T. finely chopped fresh basil
salt and pepper to taste
3 med. potatoes, peeled, diced into 1/2 inch cubes, steamed till tender then chilled
2 med.-lg. Begian endive
14 oz. can hearts of palm, drained and sliced into 1/4 inch thick rounds
2 fresh slicing tomatoes, cored, then quartered from tip to tip, then cut crosswise into thin quarter rounds
1 T. peeled, chopped red onion
1 T. small capers, drained
fresh parsley sprigs
4 lemon wedges

In small mixing bowl combine oil, vinegar, garlic, basil, salt and pepper. Stir briskly with fork till thickened, then set at room temperature till ready to use.

Steam potatoes. Chill till ready to use.

Remove soiled outer leaves of endive (if there are any), then starting at the tip of each, cut crosswise into 1/4 inch wide strips till you reach the core; discard core. Shake endive to loosen and separate layers into rings and/or half rings.

Now, visually divide each salad plate (4 for this recipe) into 4 parts. In the upper left portion of each of the plates, loosely mound equal portions of the endive. In the upper right portion, place equal portions of the potato. In the lower right portion, arrange tomato slices, and in the lower left, the hearts of palm slices.

Sprinkle the potato with chopped red onion, and the hearts of palm with capers. Garnish each plate with parsley sprigs and lemon wedges.

When ready to serve, drizzle the basil vinaigrette over the endive, hearts of palm and tomatoes. Do not drizzle over potato. Serve immediately.

Notes: Serve this salad most appropriately as a luncheon salad. If a heartier meal is desired, add fresh French or black bread or a side of pasta and red sauce.

We don’t drizzle the vinaigrette over the potato in order to enjoy the earthy flavor of this vegetable. But you do as you like. It’s your meal. You might even want to mix it all up, but now and then it’s nice to present the vegetables separately.

Steaming the potatoes keeps them from disintegrating in the boiling water.

Belgian endive, originally grown in Belgium, has a naturally mild bitter sweetness to it and it’s leaves are delicately crisp.