I went to a birthday party tonight for a friend.... you know one of those affairs where you bring a salad and they provide the meat. Now Hubby and I never have tons of food hanging around the house at this time of the year. We are waiting for that all powerful first check to come in in the middle of September to restock our shelves. This is an annual event. Most people think that teachers make lots of money and while they do ok they do not get paid in the summer... at least this teacher doesn't. As a result taking food to an event such as the one we attended this evening becomes a real exercise in ingenuity.
I took beet salad.... I was embarrassed to take this concoction but take it I did. Now if you are like most people, around about now, you are wondering what is beet salad? Let me explain.
In Newfoundland every summer many small communities have what is called the annual summer garden party. Garden parties are like the biggest potluck you have ever seen. Every woman for miles will spend hours upon hours thinking about what grand and glorious recipe they will try out on unsuspecting recipients at the annual garden party. There is usually every kind of salad known to man as well as every kind of dainty sandwich and desert that could be possibly stirred, blended, ground, risen baked, fried, etc.... you get my drift.
At these garden parties there is a positive potato salad frenzy. Potato salads are a gourmet delight in Newfoundland where there are so many Irish cast offs that potatoes are a staple of the good Newfy's diet. There are potato salads with apple chopped in them... there are potato salads where there is mustard stirred into them... if you can stir it into the potatoes then it is to be expected at the potato salad table. (yes there is a table set aside for the potato salads)!
The quintessential, unavoidable, and very predictable salad is the beet/potato salad. And that is what I made for the party tonight.
I have always prided myself on the recipes that I use for potlucks and events where I have to bring something foodish to the party. I always try to find some gourmet delight that is a veritable proof of my culinary skill. I hoard recipes like some people hoard gold. Beet/potato salad is not one of them.... it is comfort food... it is a recipe (I say that tongue in cheek) that I simply use for the family. It takes no skill, it is not a gourmet delight, and no chef in his right mind would use it. It is simply too simple and totally.... well, yummy.
Tonight.... enter one beet/potato salad.... pink as petunias.... and simple beyond imagining.....
Smash hit.... who knew....
Frankie's Beet/Potato Salad
A bunch of potatoes enough to fill a 4 l stock pot, peeled, boiled, mashed and cooled.
Preserved beet in or not in vinegar.... diced. About 1 1/2 cups.
5 - 6 hard boiled eggs peeled and diced.
2 - 3 big globs of mayonaise or whipped salad dressing
Stir all the above ingredients together and smooth top... place a couple of sprigs of parsley for decoration.... chill and serve.
How easy was that.... they all think I'm some kind of super chef. How bizarre!
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