Potato, Green Bean, Tomato and Lettuce Salad with Tofu, Tahini, Garlic Dip

This is a good salad for lunch (since it is best cold). It is similar to a salad nicoise, but without the tuna.

Yukon gold potatoes were what I had on hand so I used those. Any waxy potato would work here. Adding the acid (in this case vinegar) to the hot potatoes is something I always do. It adds a lot of flavor without adding unnecessary fat or calories. I used both green and wax beans for color, but all green beans would have been great here too. The reason I used the silken tofu, tahini and garlic dip was because I was out of cucumbers and didn’t think it would last until I got to the store for more. Normally I would serve this salad with lemon vinaigrette. The tofu, tahini, garlic dip worked well as a salad dressing. Both my husband and I thought it worked well enough that we would use it for salad dressing again.

Potato, Green Bean, Tomato and Lettuce Salad with Tofu, Tahini, Garlic Dip
Serves 2

Ingredients:

8 ounces of yukon gold potatoes
1 ½ cups of green beans, cleaned
1 ½ cups of wax beans, cleaned
½ tablespoons of sherry vinegar
6 cups of lettuce, cleaned, dried and torn into bite sized pieces
2 Roma tomatoes cut into bite size pieces
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
6 tablespoons of silken tofu, tahini and garlic dip

Directions:

Microwave the potatoes until just tender and allow to cool so that you can handle them. When they are cool enough to handle, cut them into bite size pieces.

Steam the green beans for 5 minutes. Remove them to a pan that you can spread them out in a single layer to expedite cooling. I don't not immerse my cooked produce in ice water as I believe that some of the vitamins would leach out into the water using that method. Add the potatoes to the beans and sprinkle with the sherry vinegar while they are still warm so they absorb the vinegar. Refrigerate until needed.

Plate the prepared lettuce. Top the lettuce with tomatoes, beans and potatoes. Salt and pepper the salad to taste and finish with a big dollop of tofu, tahini and garlic dip.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 256.05
Calories From Fat (16%) - 41.07g

Total Fat - 4.76g
Saturated Fat - 0.58g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 100.22mg
Potassium - 1605.11mg
Total Carbohydrates - 48.09g
Fiber - 9.91g
Sugar - 8.47g
Protein - 10.83g

Comments:

Sometimes we eat dinner very late, like tonight. I cooked and cooled the beans and potatoes a couple of hours before dinner and held them in the refrigerator until my husband got home from work. This salad made a nice light late dinner.

We had this salad with a slice of whole-wheat flat bread topped with my variation of the braunschweiger from Bryanna Clark Grogan’s website Vegan Feast Kitchen; I will post my variation of the recipe tomorrow. I highly recommend that you try the recipe on Bryanna’s site; the flavor is very nice and makes a good topping for bread with a little Dijon mustard and pickled onions.