Digital Bear Weekend: Jonathan Bardzik

16th May 2020 BWM Staff

Recipe

French Potato Salad

Serves 8

Save the mayonnaise for your burger! This vinaigrette-dressed potato salad is bright and fresh with mint. The perfect side for heavier tasting, smokey meats off the grill.

For salad:

4 cups small potatoes like fingerlings or baby red
3 tbs thinly slivered or chopped fresh mint
3 cloves minced garlic

For dressing:

1 clove garlic
1/4 cup Champagne vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 cup olive oil – the good stuff!

Directions:

Place potatoes in a 4 quart pot and cover with cold water. Salt generously, about 2 tbs, and place over high heat, bring to a boil and cook until still firm but can be easily pierced through to the center with the tip of a sharp knife. Drain potatoes.
Meanwhile, mince garlic, sprinkle with coarse salt, about 1/2 tsp, and mash it into a paste using the flat side of a chef’s knife or the tines of a fork. Place garlic paste in a medium bowl and whisk together with Champagne vinegar and mustard. Season with freshly cracked black pepper.
Cut warm potatoes in 1” pieces – halved or quartered – and toss with mint and garlic. The hot potatoes will release flavorful oils in the mint and garlic.
While whisking, drizzle oil into the vinegar mixture to form a creamy emulsion. Toss with potatoes and let rest for 10 minutes – if you can hold off that long – while the potatoes absorb some of the dressing.
Season to taste with salt, pepper and additional mint as desired.

TIP: Use whatever fresh herbs you have on hand. This is wonderful with tarragon, parsley, chives and basil. In the summer add halved, sweet, garden-fresh cherry tomatoes.

Be social with Jonathan Bardzick:

Jonathan Bardzik is a storyteller, and author inspired by the fresh, seasonal ingredients he grew up with from his parents’ garden and finds today at local markets. Jonathan loves cooking with people, both in front of crowds and with the friends and family who fill the Washington, DC home he shares with his husband Jason. Jonathan is the author of three cookbooks, has appeared in front of more than 750 audiences over the past nine years and appears regularly on DC-area ABC, CBS and FOX morning shows. His new television show, Jonathan’s Kitchen, debuts later this year on Amazon Prime Video and HereTV.

Watch all the other awesome performances across our Digital Bear Weekend by visiting bearworldmag.com/digitalbear