Caramelized Potato and Onion Salad

mersaydees's Note:

I think this is a great salad from Alessandra Avallone's cookbook, The Complete Book of Salads.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 10 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil , plus some extra as needed
• 10 ounces baby onions , peeled (300 g)
• 14 ounces new potatoes (400 g)
• salt
• fresh ground white pepper
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons cider vinegar , plus more if needed
• 1 sprig rosemary , chopped

Directions:

1. In a large frying pan, heat the 4 tablespoons oil.
2. Add the onion and cook gently over low heat for 20 minutes, occasionally shaking the pan.
3. In boiling, lightly salted water, cook the potatoes until tender, about 10-15 minutes. Drain; rinse in cold water, then peel.
4. Add potatoes to the onions in the frying pan with a little extra oil if necessary. Turn up heat, sprinkle sugar over and allow to caramelize.
5. Add a few tablespoons vinegar to soften the caramel, then remove from heat.
6. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and freshly chopped rosemary.
7. Serve warm or cold.

Reviews

[Cookgirl]

Delicious and well deserved five stars. My changes: shallots for baby onions (forgot to add to the grocery list) and a combination of potatoes-Yukons, reds and blues and since they are all thin skinned the potatoes were left unpeeled. The only warning I would mention is to be cautious with how much rosemary you use as too much will overpower the other flavors. We've decided to prepare this salad again soon and serve with wienerschnitzel as we think that would be a perfect pairing of flavors. *Very* happy to have discovered this recipe! Reviewed for Veg Tag November. Thank you!

[bluemoon downunder]

Great recipe: great blend of flavours. I probably had proportionally more potatoes, so the amount of vinegar was fine for us, and we love cider vinegar. I used grindings of a rosemary and sage blend from a mini blender I acquired recently and I'm finding that that blend is wonderful in so many recipes. I used grindings of black pepper rather than white pepper, as I use it all the time and don't even have any white pepper! The baby onions were very elegant and I'd use them again for serving guests, but unless I can find some peeled and frozen, I'm going to try this next time with regular onions or perhaps a mix of onions and leeks. It's the tedium of the peeling! Oh how lazy are some of us in 2008! Loved the baby potatoes - which we're eating all the time - caramelised! Yum, yum! Thanks so much for sharing this delicious recipe, mersaydees.

[Debbie R.]

This was a great way to eat potatoes. I think I'd use a little less vinegar next time. In addition, rather than rinsing the potatoes in cold water to loosen the skin, it works much better to briefly immerse them in ice water for a few minutes My husband really liked this dish too. I had to use regular onions because I couldn't find baby onions.