Potatoes and Greens, Unsuspecting Summertime Comfort Food

I love nothing more than some fresh, beautiful greens from anybody's garden - but when they come from my Dad's garden, well, I guess they taste somehow just a little bit more special.

I grew up eating a traditional Slovenian dish of warm potatoes and salad greens during the summer, and forgot all about it until I told my Mom I had some of Dad's coveted fresh greens and she reminded me of this delicious dish we lovingly call "salata".

The sweet little potatoes

The best greens to use wilt well, yet have a spine to maintain a bit of a crunch.  You'll need some potatoes - any potato will do.  I used these delightful Baby Dutch Yellows that I had on hand, no need to peel.  If you use a bigger potato, you'll want to bust that sweet tuber right out of its skin - it'll be too tough if you leave it on.

Wash them and boil them until fork tender, salting the water if you like.  Drain and set aside until cool enough to handle, yet still quite warm.

If you haven't received your greens already hand-picked, washed and spun-dry, then you'll have to do it yourself at this point, lol.  Mine came prepped by the loving hand of my dad, so all I had to do was add them to a big, pretty bowl.

Go ahead - quarter 'em!

I quartered my baby potatoes for the baby and kid mouths around, but you can halve them, too.  The important thing is to expose some of that flesh, so it can absorb the good stuff we're going to add to it.

Then, you put the warm potatoes on your bed of greens.  I always use an organic apple cider vinegar, although lately I have been using the kosher versions of food if I can find them - they're cheaper, and held to the same standard as organic, as far as I can tell.

I give it a few generous splashes of the vinegar, add some more than generous splashes of olive oil - I like light-tasting olive oil, the lighter the better - hit it with that lovely Pink Himalayan sea salt as much as you like, a bit of fresh ground pepper, toss it around with your tongs, and voila!

The unsuspecting combination of warm potatoes with chilled, fresh greens combine to surprise your mouth in a whole new way.  Enjoy!