I had my cousins over for dinner tonight and I made a delicious homemade spaghetti sauce served with spaghetti, of course. I was in need for a side dish, I had some rapini but not enough to feed two families with! I needed to ‘bulk’ it up a bit! Since I was craving potato salad today and was planning on making rapini, I came up with this delicious salad.
I get this pesto sauce from an Italian delicatessen, it’s called ‘Berni’ Pesto al Basilico. I only mention it so that I don’t forget the name of it (I have a bad memory), it is made in Italy and it tastes so good! Of course nothing beats homemade pesto, but I like to keep a jar of this stuff for an easy dinner or side dish starter.
I used about 15-20 baby red and white potatoes for this. Cut them into halves and quarter’s (depends on how small or large they are). You can use regular potatoes as well.
What you will need:
- 1 large bunch rapini
- 15-20 baby potatoes or 5-6 medium sized potatoes
- 1 red bell pepper
- 2-3 tbsp pesto*
- 2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp mayonnaise
Rinse rapini well as it is sandy, trim stems off, and chop up into big chunks.
Bring a pot of water to boil, season with salt and a little olive oil to the pot. Add in chopped rapini and boil for 5 minutes until rapini becomes a bright green colour and is tender. Meanwhile, boil potatoes (make sure to season water with salt).
Drain rapini when done. When fork goes through the potatoes, they are done cooking; drain.
In a large bowl, add the rapini, potatoes, and diced peppers.
Combine with pesto, olive oil, and mayo. You may add some pepper if desired…no need for salt as it was added in the cooking process, but you may taste and add if needed. I served it right away, and it was all gone!:)
*I made this homemade pesto with fennel. I had a lot of the leaves leftover so I thought I would try it and it was delicious!
No real recipe, I just used a whole bunch of fennel leaves, 3 cloves of garlic, a hand full of walnuts (you can use pine nuts), extra virgin olive oil, Romano or Parmesan cheese, and salt to season. Blend well in a food processor until it becomes a paste. Store in refrigerator until ready to use. Goes great with pasta, gnocchi, and this potato salad.