New Potatoes with Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette

These roasted potatoes pack a flavorful punch, with the roasted garlic and mustard battling (a friendly battle) it out on your tastebuds.  I have been kicking myself for not trying this recipe sooner, as it was so very good for so little effort.  It’s a twist on potato salad, all warmed up and yummified.  Serve this delicious side dish with juicy steak or some grilled chicken slathered in barbeque sauce.

Have you ever roasted garlic?  While raw garlic is sharp and biting, roasted garlic is sweet, mild, and buttery.  It’s a whole different ingredient.  And it’s so easy to accomplish.  This recipe roasts the individual garlic cloves right along with the potatoes.  But I also like to take a whole garlic bulb and cut off the top quarter of it to expose the pulp of all the individual cloves (do not peel the cloves!).  Lay out a double layer of foil and place the bulb in the center.  Drizzle a couple tablespoons of olive oil over the exposed cloves, sprinkle with kosher salt, and then bring the sides of the foil up around it loosely and gently twist the top shut.  Place your foil wrapped bulb on a pan and put it in a 350° oven for about 45 minutes.  Take it out of the oven and let it cool a bit before unwrapping.  Then simply squeeze out the soft and buttery pulp.  This can be used as a steak topper, as a spread on slices of grilled bread, or in a garlic butter, like we just made for grilled shrimp scampi.

New Potatoes with Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette
(print recipe)

3 T. olive oil, divided
1-1/4 tsp. kosher salt, divided
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper, divided
7 garlic cloves, unpeeled
3 lbs. small red potatoes, quartered
3 T. minced chives
2 T. white wine vinegar
2 tsp. Dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 400°.

Combine 1-1/2 tablespoons of the olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, garlic cloves, and potatoes in a roasting pan or jelly-roll pan. (Cover pan with foil first, for easy clean-up!) Toss well to coat. Bake for 1 hour or until tender, stirring after 35 minutes. Cool 5 to 10 minutes.

Squeeze garlic cloves to extract pulp. Discard skins. Combine garlic pulp, remaining 1-1/2 tablespoons oil, remaining 3/4 teaspoon salt, remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper, chives, vinegar, and mustard in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Add potatoes to bowl; toss well to coat.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Source: originally from Cooking Light magazine, November 2008 – can now be found on myrecipes.com