I’m feeling energetic so let’s kick the week off with a beautifully simple and tasty recipe for a cool salad on a hot summer day. Created and photographed by the talented Sarka Babicka for her food blog Cook Your Dream.
The recipe uses only a handful of ingredients which are easily available all year round and it’s super quick to prepare. Healthy and vegetarian you can enjoy it hot or cold though I think it would be a perfect summer evening salad, sitting outside with a nice glass of… err, wine of course. But what kind?
This leads me nicely into introducing a new guest contributor, the very knowledgeable Sarah Abbott, Master of Wine, twitter fanatic, airmiles collector and lover of high heels with the finest taste buds in Bedfordshire, and possibly the world. Take it away Sarah!
Salads can be quite tricky to match with wine, because dressings are usually quite sharp, while flavours of the key ingredients are nuanced, and quite complex. But I have just the thing.
Like the recipe, this wine is from Hungary. It’s a dry, gently scented white with creamy freshness and just the right amount of zip to counterpoint the smoky, rich salmon and the tangy yoghurt dressing. It’s called Dobogó Dry Furmint. Furmint is the name of the variety, and it smells a bit like rhubarb crumble, and a little like honeysuckle, but yet it still tastes so fresh, clean and savoury. Hungarian whites are fabulous, and still underrated in Britain.
Note to UK readers: You can buy this wine from the lovely & very efficient people at Wine Direct, at £15.49 a bottle. It’s a fantastic wine, worth every penny. If your budget is tighter, then Verdejo, the rounded but aromatic speciality of Northern Spain, is a good match. Waitrose do a lovely one at £7.99 a bottle.
If you’re only going to make ONE new thing, make this!
SMOKED SALMON AND POTATO SALAD WITH DILL
Serves 2
INGREDIENTS:
400g baby potatoes
125ml (1/2 cup) greek yogurt (soured cream)
1 small garlic clove, crushed
1tsp lemon juice
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 handful fresh dill, chopped
1 spring onion, chopped
170g smoked salmon, torn into small pieces
DIRECTIONS:
Wash the potatoes, put them in a small pot and cover with water. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, and simmer until the potatoes are soft, about 10 minutes or so. Meanwhile, prepare the yogurt dressing. In a small bowl, combine the yogurt, garlic, lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Stir in about half of the dill.
Strain the potatoes and let them sit for a while to cool down. Arrange potatoes and salmon on plates, sprinkle with the remaining dill and spring onion. Finally, spoon over the yogurt dressing and serve.
Enjoy and I hope you’re inspired!
More information | Cook Your Dream Blog
Photography | Sarka Babicka
Guest contributor | Sarah Abbott MW
