Creamy Parmesan Horseradish Potatoes
While the world seems to be wrapped up in the drama of coronavirus and primary elections (for good reason) I’ve been keeping my brain in check the best way I know how: eating. Well, making… and then eating. The past couple of weeks I’ve been tinkering around more than usual, trying out new recipes, creating my own recipes, and working to make Matt’s obscure cravings “something carby, and maybe creamy but not super fatty” come to life. It’s not an easy life I live, but it’s the one I got. That was a joke.
One of the carby-creamy-not-super-fatty creations I came up with was a creamy sesame pasta salad that had roasted cauliflower and a gorgeous nutty sesame flavor. It was a pseudo-Japanese take on run of the mill pasta salad, which was a weird move part but I love love loved it. That’s a recipe for another day. Because the real MVP of the carby-creamy-not-super-fatty brand is what resulted from a small bag of mixed potatoes, some sour cream, and a jar of prepared horseradish that I think might have been well past it’s due date but does that stuff ever really go bad? (editor’s note: it does oh my god oops)
It’s not unusual for a new favorite recipe in our household to come out of just whatever we had on hand, but it’s a little unusual for it to be something that makes us literally gobble up bits and pieces of it, as if each crumb was labelled “Lady Gaga’s leaked album.” We could not get enough.
So, dear readers, I knew I had to share it. It’s hearty, has a teeny bit of a kick, and perfect for serving alongside a medium-rare ribeye or at your spring time cookout. Or, do as we did, and just make a big batch of it to snack on and eat with whatever meals you’re making throughout the week! And also! It can be served warm, room temperature, or cold. We love a versatile dish!
Creamy Horseradish Potato Salad
takes half an hour // serves 4 as a side
1 pound waxy potatoes, cut into 1/2”-1” pieces*
1/3 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons mayo
3-4 teaspoons prepared horseradish, to taste*
1/2 cup lightly packed shredded Parmesan
Salt and generous amounts of fresh cracked black pepper
3 green onions, chopped
The flow of this recipe is easy peasy: we’re gonna boil the potatoes, and while they boil we’re gonna make the “dressing” and then we’re gonna add the potatoes to the dressing and toss to combine and eat it up. As a reminder, this can be served hot or room temperature, so if serving hot you likely want to make right before serving, but if you plan to serve room temperature you’ll probably want to allot half an hour for it to cool.
To start, add the potatoes to a pot and fill with enough cold water to cover them by at least 2”. Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer, and simmer for 5-10 minutes uncovered, testing tenderness with a fork. You want to be able to easily pierce the potatoes with a fork, but make sure not to overcook as we don’t want them getting mushy. Once they are tender, they’re gonna get strained to remove extra water before going right into our dressing.
Make the dressing by whisking together the sour cream, mayo, horseradish, Parmesan, salt and pepper. Add the potatoes and green onions and gently toss to combine.
Garnish with extra Parmesan and green onions as desired, serve room temperature or warm.
Notes
Potatoes—Waxy potatoes are fingerling potatoes, blue (or purple) potatoes, and red potatoes. They hold their shape well and don’t get as mushy as starchy potatoes such as russets. I recommend using a tri-color potato blend. Try and cut them pretty evenly as this will effect how evenly they cook!
Prepared Horseradish—This is the element of the dish that really adds a little something extra with a nice kick. You can add this to taste, so I’d start with two teaspoons and move up from there. We found four teaspoons to be perfect.
