winter potato salad – Sweet potato and broccoli

Wintry Mix – Potato Salad with a Twist

First appeared in the CAFE newsletter and edited by Ellie Sharp

In the middle of the Winter, sometimes you dream of Summer:  the grill, fresh corn, sliced tomatoes, potato salad…the Southern fixin’s of a Summer BBQ meal. But then you remember it’s February. And there’s buckets of rain outside. So you make do with seasonal ingredients and make a Winter BBQ meal happen. White spring potatoes are replaced with sweet potatoes in storage and broccoli from the garden. You can add all sorts of things to this base – apples, pecans, but I implore you to use balsamic vinegar in the dressing – a must!

Ingredients:

3-4 sweet potatoes, diced into ½ inch pieces

Oil for roasting vegetables

Salt & pepper

1 head broccoli, 3-4 cups broken into bite sized pieces 

2-3 slices of bacon

¼ cup mayonnaise 

¼ cup balsamic vinegar 

½ small red onion, minced

1 garlic clove

1 apple, chopped (Fuji, pink lady, honeycrisp preferred, but Granny Smith would work!)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven 425.
2. On a half sheet pan, combine sweet potatoes, oil, salt and pepper. Mix and spread into one layer. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes.
3. Pull out potatoes and flip. Layer broccoli pieces right on top and season those with a bit more oil and salt. Roast for another 10-15 minutes until broccoli is crisped and potatoes are tender. Remove from the oven and cool.
4. Chop bacon and cook until crispy. Drain oil, set aside. 
5. In your serving bowl, make the dressing. Combine mayo, vinegar, onion. Grate or add minced clove of garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Whisk ingredients together. 
6. Assemble. Place sweet potato and broccoli mixture on top of dressing. Add apple. Gently toss to combine being careful not to mash potatoes. Top with crispy bacon!