Roasted potato salad with beech mushrooms

For most people, the words "potato salad" are synonymous with picnics, summertime, hot dogs, and a lot of mayonnaise.  Like most, I absolutely love all of those things, but there's something fun about taking a classic and turning it completely upside-down.  Warm instead of cold, light instead of heavy, no eggs, no celery, and definitely no mayonnaise.

An Asian mushroom became the inspiration for the twist on the classic.  These mushrooms looked absolutely beautiful - all connected together at the base, wrapped neatly in a package - and were not to be passed up.  Having never cooked with this variety of mushrooms before, it was a match for what I wanted to do with a potato salad.  I wanted to keep it simple with minimum ingredients - each of which could stand on its own, but hopefully be so much better together.  The result - warm, crunchy, soft, tangy, earthy salad topped with crumbles of salty, briny feta.  The perfect varietal on a classic. 

Roasted Potatoes

few small potatoes - quartered

1/4 red onion, sliced

olive oil

oregano / salt / pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Mix all ingredients on a cookie sheet and roast until potatoes are cooked through and have crisped on the outside, about 15 minutes depending on size. 

Mushrooms

Beech mushrooms (3.5oz package)

1/4 red onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

olive oil

salt / pepper / thyme

While the potatoes are cooking, heat a skillet to medium high heat.  Add a couple of table spoons of olive oil, onion, and garlic.  Let saute for a minute, season with salt, pepper, and thyme.  Toss in the mushrooms adding a bit more olive oil if needed.  Saute, tossing for about 5 minutes or until the mushrooms turn a light golden.  Remove from heat. 

Lemon Dijon Vinaigrette

juice of half of a lemon

1 tablespoon whole grain Dijon mustard

about scant 1/4 cup olive oil

Combine juice of lemon and mustard and whisk in olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper.  Dressing should be moderately tart.

Assemble
1 green onion finely chopped

finely chopped parsley, few tablespoons

feta cheese

In a bowl combine potatoes (discarding the onions - they were used for flavoring the potatoes during roasting), the mushroom mixture, parsley, green onions, and the dressing.  Toss well.  Let sit for about 10-15 minutes for flavors to develop. Mound on a plate, without excess dressing, sprinkle with feta, and top with additional olive oil. 

Note:  I use Fustini's Wild Mushroom and Sage Olive Oil to finish the salad.  This oil is absolutely delicious and adds an extra deep mushroom flavor to the dish.