Taste the rainbow! This meal prep friendly recipe brings vibrant colours and contrasting textures together with a sweet and tangy dressing.

Time: 3/5
Doesn’t take long to make, but does take time to chill.

Effort: 3/5
Mostly knife work.

Honey on the Money

It’s mid-September, and the heat is still unbearable. Which is why I’m looking at salads to get me through the day again. Especially salads loaded with tons of ingredients like pasta and roast chicken, which are substantial enough to be a meal on their own.

I’ve done a German-style potato salad with pickled beets and sous vide chicken breast before which I really enjoyed. Potatoes are very satiating, which is great because I’m currently in a fat loss phase. They’re also not that calorie dense, which gives me room to fit more delicious dressing into the meal.

An archeological survey of my freezer revealed some frozen asparagus and frozen cooked scallops that I could add to the salad. In addition to freeing up freezer space, I get to double down on the calorie-conscious theme as well. Seafood in general, and shellfish in particular, are excellent lean proteins.

Both were clearance sale items from my favourite grocer, and I’m especially proud of the cooked scallops. They’re more value for money, because raw food typically loses water weight as it cooks. Plus, it cuts down on cooking time – according to the package instructions, all I had to do was to briefly blanche them. Which fits right into my workflow, as I was going to blanche the vegetables and the potatoes anyway.

To bring an already experimental mish-mash of ingredients together, I concocted a honey mustard salad dressing with a pleasant twist – a dash of fish sauce for some serious umami. It serves the same function as anchovies in Caesar dressing, except it’s cheap and shelf stable. Plus, fish sauce is great for stir fries too.

I don’t want to call this post a recipe. It’s more like a show and tell where I lay out how I brainstormed my way to dinner. And it’s what I believe home cooking should mostly be: working with what you have, and using your creativity to put things together. Leave the fancy stuff to the professionals and just focus on getting good, simple food in your belly.

Posts since the last recipe that was actually served with rice: 1

Dramatis Personae

Served 7.

For the Salad

Potatoes – 1500g

Can’t have potato salad without potatoes! These were huge ones, too – they each weighed more than a pound. This was a deliberate choice on my part. A few big potatoes are less work to scrub or peel than a whole bunch of small ones. Call me lazy, but I cook to live and not the other way round.

Frozen cooked scallops – 1000g

Substitute any protein of choice, but scallops are delicious and a good choice. If starting from raw ingredients, allow a good 30% or so extra weight to account for the water lost during the cooking process.

Frozen asparagus – 454g, or 1lb

There’s nothing wrong with frozen vegetables, and they’re quick and convenient to use. Asparagus is often quite pricey where I live, so I was glad to get this pack at a bargain.

Carrots – two large, 400g

For sweetness, fiber and colour. I recently sharpened my knife, and it makes a world of difference when it comes to prepping hardy ingredients like carrots. I was cutting matchsticks out of sections without any of the usual slipping and rolling around, which might have led to accidents if my knife was dull.

Purple onion – one large, 400g

Also for sweetness and colour. I knew I wanted some onion in the salad, but since we have green from the asparagus and orange from the carrot, why not get some purple into there as well? Taste the rainbow. I’m sure the antioxidants that give purple onions their colour is great for health too.

For the Dressing

Honey – 6 tablespoons

A bit more than I intended to add but it turned out surprisingly good. I’ve never made a salad dressing that was overtly sweet, but after this experience I’m open to doing it again.

Olive oil – 6 tablespoons

Delicious, especially in a salad where the floral notes don’t get cooked off. This is an application where it’s worth breaking out the good stuff. And since the potatoes and the scallops barely have any fat, it’s okay to be liberal with the olive oil.

Vinegar – 6 tablespoons

Rice wine vinegar is what I have, so it’s what I used. This dressing is more vinegar forward than most other recipes, but it’s how I like my salad.

Mustard – 1 teaspoon

For emulsifying the oil with the acid, as well as for a bit of kick. I was at the bottom of the jar and used less than a tablespoon. That amount wasn’t able to get a good emulsion going, you might need even more.

Fish sauce – 1 teaspoon

Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it. A little goes a long way, and it won’t taste fishy at all once it’s incorporated into the dressing. Instead, it will punch up the umami factor and make the dressing that much better.

Salt and pepper to taste

The more the merrier, within reason. Potatoes need a lot of seasoning to taste good, but they taste wonderful once you get there.

Garlic to taste

A couple cloves, finely minced and given a quick sizzle in hot oil. Not strictly necessary, but it added a lot to the dish.

Executive summary

1. Bring well-salted water to a boil. Wash and cut vegetables in the meantime.
2. Blanche the asparagus, scallops and potatoes in batches, until just cooked through. Drain well and allow to cool down.
3. Briefly sauté carrots, onions and garlic in a little oil until fragrant and slightly wilted. Reserve.
4. Whisk together the ingredients for the dressing. Add the vegetables and scallops, then toss to coat. Season to taste.
5. Chill overnight and serve.

Play by Play

Last things first. It takes time for water to come to a boil, so I peeled and cut the potatoes on the meantime. Potatoes shrink when they cook, so I account for that. Aiming for small, spoonable chunks.

Potatoes take a while to blanche, so onwards to the rest of the vegetables. I got to say, prep work is so much more satisfying with a nice sharp knife!

Potatoes are done, and the water is already nice and hot, so here we are. The packaging for the scallops said to blanche them briefly, and I’m doing the same for the asparagus..

Everything has been par-boiled and reserved, to leave the pan empty for the next step.

Next, I stir fried the carrots and onions briefly to take their raw edge off. I saved the garlic until the very end, so they still stay fresh and pungent. Reserve all this as well.

The pan is already dirty, so might as well use it as my mixing bowl. This skillet also has the distinction of being the biggest dishwasher-safe utensil I have, so it has become my daily driver by virtue of that.

I didn’t have enough mustard to make a good emulsion. I wonder if a bit of mayo will save this …?

Not really. If anything, the little globs of mayo make the dressing look worse. Served me right for using a fork instead of a proper whisk, maybe.

The show must go on. All the ingredients go back in, to be paddled gently until well dressed. Try not to stir too much, or the potatoes will start breaking up. Cover and chill overnight.

Dinner is served! A scattering of finely chopped scallions add some green to complement this already colourful dish.

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