Pesto Potato Salad

Okay so yesterday I made Pesto Potato salad using a Smitten Kitchen recipe, but since it was Ekadashi I didn't use the green beans and instead replace it with oven roasted tomatoes from 101 cookbooks (check the bottom of the recipe to see the instructions for the tomatoes).

So what did I do?

First - Oven Roast the tomatoes (they take a long time)

cut cherry tomatoes in half

then toss them with olive oil, a little salt and honey (the original recipe calls for brown sugar, but I love my bee spit).

After tossing them with the yummy mixture above, lay them out (cut side up) on a oven safe pan (I used a pizza pan with parchment paper, so there won't be any clean up). And bake them in a 350 ºF oven for 45 mins. (I can't remember how long I baked them, but strangely it takes a long time.)

Then the Potatoes

So the smart way to do this is roughly chop (ie don't be a perfectionist about this) yukon gold potatoes and put them into a pot of salted water, cook for about 14 mins (key here DO NOT LET THEM OVER COOK!)

Now the way I did it cause I was distracted -

I boiled whole yukon gold potatoes for more then 30 mins, then realized my mistake, then roughly chopped them and cooked for about 4 - 6 mins (This strangely worked well cause I avoided turning my potatoes into a watery mess. Yucky!) Drain the potatoes when done.

while potatoes are cooking, make up a mess of pesto without pine nuts.

in the pesto I used: a bunch of basil, olive oil, salt and pepper

In a food processor throw in the basil, grind till its fine, then drizzle in olive oil till everything is nicely mixed - then add salt and pepper.

Then using a vegetable peeler slice slivers of parmesan cheese. (Keep on side)

Last but not least - pan roast some pine nuts (takes about 5 mins, do not leave them alone!)

Ok - we are almost done - take the drained potatoes, the pesto, some balsamic vinegar (the recipe calls for white balsamic, but I don't own white), salt, pepper, cheese, pine nuts and the tomatoes. Mix!

Adjust taste to your liking. Enjoy!

Yummy!