Pickled Salad

Click here to go to printable recipe:  Pickled Salad

As mentioned in my previous post, sunchokes are an example of swollen underground stems called tubers; a few days ago, I dug out, then replanted most of my sunchoke tubers for a fall harvest, but brought a few to the kitchen, as seen below: 

In previous seasons, I have roasted sunchokes, and added them to a stew.  Since they are tubers, just like potatoes, I have also used them instead of potatoes in a dish with pork, and I felt elated with the results.  Sunchokes may cause bloating and other digestive discomforts, but cooking them in an acidic liquid helps prevent that ordeal, which made me think of a salad that calls for potatoes cooked in vinegar and water, sounding like a perfect way to use up my sunchokes. 

My recipe for pickled salad consists of a delightful medley of pickled onions, peppers and about one and a half pounds (680 g) of potatoes. My sunchokes weighed only about a quarter of a pound (114 g), so I added one and one quarter pounds (566 g) of medium Russet potatoes:

Pickled Salad – Ensalada encurtida

Printable recipe: Pickled Salad – Ensalada encurtida

Ingredients

½ white onion; peeled, and sliced thinly (about 1 cup)
1 ½ lb potatoes, sunchokes, or a mix; washed
1-2 fresh jalapeño peppers; washed
1 cup white vinegar
hot water, as needed
¼ cup mayonnaise, or to taste
Salt and ground black pepper, to taste

Place sliced onions in a non-reactive container, then add vinegar:

Cover and let rest in the fridge for at least two hours, or overnight.

Transfer onions to a colander set on top of a stainless steel pot, so the vinegar will drain there (photo below, left).  Press onions down with the back of a spoon, to remove excess vinegar (photo below, right):

Transfer onions to a large, non-reactive mixing bowl, and reserve.

Peel and cube potatoes (and/or sunchokes) and add to the pot with the vinegar (photo below, left).  Pour in enough hot water to cover tubers (photo below, right):

Bring to a boil over high heat; add whole peppers and blanch for one minute in the boiling water, then remove:

Lower heat to medium, cover the pot, and cook tubers for five minutes.

Meanwhile, remove stems from blanched peppers, and slice lengthwise and into short strips, removing seeds and veins:

Add pepper strips to the mixing bowl with the reserved onions, mixing and seasoning with just a touch of salt:

Reserve.

Check doneness of potatoes (and/or sunchokes); they will still look firm and crisp on the outside, because of the vinegar, but the potatoes should be fully cooked, and tender inside when pricked with a fork (photo below, left); the sunchokes (if using) will still be crunchy.  My batch took 8 minutes total.  Drain into a colander (discard liquid), and allow tubers to cool down (photo below, right):

Once cooled, add to the mixing bowl (photo below, left).  Stir in mayonnaise (photo below, right):

Incorporate all the ingredients, adjusting seasoning with salt and ground black pepper, to taste.  Cover and refrigerate, until serving time:

This pickled salad works heavenly as part of a picnic or potluck spread, or as a side for a main meat dish, as I will show in my next post.

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I am sharing my recipe at What’s for Dinner? Sunday Link-Up #418 with Helen @ The Lazy Gastronome.