ballaro market salad

Simple, savory and satisfying. Served room temperature or warm you will love the clean flavors of this dish. As a light meal or a side-dish to roast chicken - this will soon become one of your go to dishes. When you taste it the first time you may have that - this needs something feeling - but then the simplicity will override and you'll want nothing to change. Thanks to David Rocco for the recipe inspiration (Insalata del Mercato Ballaro). It is so simple it is the perfect palate for adding your own flavor spin!

This dish lives at the crossroads of roasting, blanching and boiling and eating - hee hee.

The dish calls for Yellow peppers but use what you got. I am tempted to use green - just a thought I had when I tastes this salad for the first time. You'll see what I mean. It also specifies sweet onions - I use Vidalia because...well cuz I live in Georgia :) - but you can use Cippolini if you'd like. You want a high sweetness so that it caramelizes and added the sweet to this savory dish. If you wondered about what kinda onion to buy when presented with all the colors and shapes at the store check out this page on the Cook's Thesaurus about onions and shallots. 

Oh and the roasted garlic - don't miss this opportunity to buy a couple extra heads of garlic and through them in the oven with the rest of the stuff. If you've never had roasted garlic you have to try it. It comes out of the oven toasty, sweet and buttery soft. You can spread it on bread or use it in a simple dish of pasta, olive oil and roast garlic. Use it to dress up veggies. It is really good - try it really you'll be happy you did.

Speaking of choices - how bout them potatoes?! Colors - shapes - sizes oh my! Well Cook's Thesaurus has potato descriptions covered too. Russets work best for this recipe. They are dense and break apart just enough to marry the ingredients together.

Green beans are typically available fresh year round. If you can't find them frozen will do. And who doesn't like green beans? Okay, if your hand is up here are a couple suggestions; broccoli florets or how about fresh green peppers (not cooked). You know that bright green flavor with a bit of crunch. Yeah...yeah...

I really nice thing about this dish is it can be the base for many additions and adaptions have fun with it and enjoy! 

Ingredients

2 medium  roasted Yellow Peppers
2 medium roasted Sweet Onions
1 roasted bulb of Garlic (the whole thing!)
2 medium boiled Russet Potatoes
1/2 lb blanched Green Beans
Salt & Pepper
6-8 Tablespoons flavorful Olive Oil
Red pepper flakes (optional)
Sprinkle of grated Parmesan cheese

Steps

Get the roasting started as it takes the longest. When you get the veggies in the oven; work on boiling the potatoes and blanching the beans.

Roast Peppers, Onion and Garlic:
Preheat oven to 400 F.
Cut the top (pointy part) off the garlic bulb, drizzle the cut part with a little olive oil and wrap in foil.

 Put the garlic bulb, along with the peppers and onion (unpeeled) on a baking sheet.

Allow to roast 25-30 mins or until the skin of the peppers are black and and the onions are soften and easily yield when pressed. Allow to cool and peel and de-seed the peppers and peel onions. Slice peppers and onions and add to a bowl. Squeeze the base of the garlic bulb to release cloves into the bowl with potatoes and beans.

 

Boil Potatoes:

Put potatoes whole into a large pot cover potatoes by an inch or so with cold water. Add a pinch of salt to the water. Put on the stove on high heat. Allow to come to a boil and boil at least 10-15 mins. They are done when you plunge a knife in to the potato and it comes out with out lifting the potato out of the water. Remove from the water and set aside to cool. Peel and cut into large dice; 1/2 inch cubes and add to a mixing bowl.

Blanch Green Beans:


In a small pot of salted boiling water - drop in the green beans; ends cut off and cut into bite size pieces. Allow to boil for 3-5 minutes. The green beans will become an intense green color. Drain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking. Once cooled add to the mixing bowl with potatoes.






Add olive oil, salt and pepper - taste and adjust seasoning. If you like - add a bit of red pepper flakes.







Serve with a sprinkle of Parmesan.


So good! Enjoy!