Potatoes and green beans salad with rosemary and roasted garlic aioli

I attended the BC  Pinot Noir celebration last week where the dinner was catered by Chef Mark Filatow of Waterfront Wines restaurant. Chef Filatow needs no introduction here in the valley, he is one of the very best and has three gold medals to prove it. One of the items on Filatow’s  menu was a sieglinde potato salad with rosemary and roasted garlic aioli. Sieglinde is a certified organic summer potato, oval in shape an smooth in texture.  Filatow gets his sieglinde potatoes from Sweet Llife Farms, owned by John and Lois Cox. I could not find a website for their farm but here is a link to Okanagan Life article about them. They sell their produce to restaurants and thankfully also at the farmers market.

As recipes go I had baby potatoes and green beans in the fridge and wanted to create a version of the salad we had at the event. Making an aioli is easy, all you need is a whisk and a bowl so I made a smal batch of aioli and mixed in a little roasted garlic and a lot of rosemary freshly picked form my rooftop garden. It turn our to be a beautiful potato salad so I thought I’d share.

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Ingredients:

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1 lb small baby potatoes

1/2 lb slender green beans

Aioli:

1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt

1/2 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary

1-2 garlic cloves, roasted

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Directions:

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The potatoes and beans:

Steam the baby potatoes until tender, remove and let cool.

Steam the green beans  , then cut them in half lengthwise.

Once cooled, cut the potatoes in half (the really small ones can be left whole) and place in a bowl with the cooked beans.

To make the aioli:

Place egg yolk, vinegar and salt in a small glass bowl.

Begin drizzling the olive oil in to the yolk in a very slow stream, driplets at first, while constantly whisking with a whisk.

The mixture will thickens as you whisk.

Once you have added all the oil and have a nice creamy aioli add the mashed garlic (add one, taste and if you want add the other clove) and the rosemary.

Whisk to combine and taste to correct the seasoning.

To roast the garlic:

You may as well roast a whole garlic, you can use a couple of cloves now and the rest later. You can roast the garlic whole or separate the cloves to roast. To roast the garlic whole make a straight cut on the wide end, drizzle with olive oil and wrap in a packet of foil or parchment with a spring of rosemary. If the garlic fall apart when you cut it that’s fine, you can pile the cloves together in the foil packet and roast them together. Roast in 400℉ until the garlic softens. Squeeze out one or two cloves for the aioli. Keep roasted cloves in a glass jar covered with oil in the refrigerator.

Assembling:

Spoon the aioli over the cooked potato and beans and mix it in gently.

Chill before serving.

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