arugula, potato and green bean salad

I know it seems like I might be going a little over board with salads after talking about my culinary revelation with a hericot vert salad just the other day, finding my inner domestic goddess with a mache salad a few days prior to that, and expressing the pitter patter of my heart after eating a white bean salad only a day or two before that. But I assuredly tell you that this is not the case. In fact, I hate salads. The word salad makes me cringe and I start spewing fire from my mouth as I refuse to eat anything resembling a salad because I really, really do not like salads. I grew up preferring the salad bar over a big entree at a restaurant, and I loved getting big fresh salads in my lunch at school. But, as with most women, the pounds starting to hang around in places they shouldn’t ushering in the “beginning of the salads for the purpose of losing weight” stage. This stage has permanently scarred me from loving another salad ever again. No more salad bars (though there are several more reasons behind that one) and definitely no more salads in my lunch, I refuse.

The real reason I have been chopping up salad after salad – which are not technically the diet variety of salads since they are full of beans and red onions or green beans and goat cheese, not that silly tasteless bunny food also known as lettuce – is the fact that I am dying. I come home everyday and I am struck with heat exhaustion, heat cramps, heat edema, heat syncope, heat stroke, heat rash and the sweatiest arm pits known to man  all at once. I am sure this air-conditioning-less house has some vendetta against me because it is trying to kill me dead. I beg and I plead my thermostat to read “69 degrees” instead of “89 degrees” but my beseeching and entreating puppy dog eyes are in vain. It is as if my thermostat laughs at me while re-registering the house at 90 degrees.

The point to this melodramatic tragedy story is not the fact that I tried panting like a dog to see if that helped my body cool down, or the fact that I am permanently parked in front of an oscillating fan, or even the part where I take freezing cold showers because my feet are turning so red from the heat I’m sure they are about to burst from pressure thus rendering me foot-less. The point is, salads are cool. They don’t require much if any stove or oven time and they are not hot meals I have to force myself to eat in an already too hot house. They are cool, light and summery. This salad falls among that group – the “I will eat you when my house burns down from pure heat” group. And though technically hip friendly, it lacks the stereotypical qualities of all the “diet” salads I’ve forced down my throat. The green beans are crisp and fresh, the red potatoes are smooth and soft and the walnuts add an extra crunch all topped with a creamy dressing full of vinegar, dijon mustard and a few other mouth watering additions that cause you to stop sticking your tongue out panting and instead keep it in your mouth as you shove forkful after forkful of delicious salad into your mouth.

Arugula, Potato and Green Bean Salad
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen and Martha Stewart

3 ounces whole walnuts (about 1 cup)
3 ounces arugula
1 1/2 pounds fingerling potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch thick rounds
6 ounce green beans, trimmed and cut in half
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon coarse salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 375°F. Place walnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for 6 – 8 minutes or until fragrant. Let cool, and coarsely chop. Set aside.

Bring a medium sauce pan of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the potatoes to a colander to drain and set aside, letting the potatoes cool.

Fill a bowl with cold water and ice; set aside. Return sauce pan to stove and re-boil more water. Add green beans and cook until bright green, about 3 – 4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the beans to the ice water to stop the cooking. Let them sit for several minutes until cool. Drain and set aside.

Whisk together the vinegar, yogurt, mustard and 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a small bowl. Add oil slowly, while whisking. Whisk until mixture is emulsified. Set aside.

Arrange arugula, potatoes, green beans and walnuts on a platter. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle the dressing over the vegetables. Toss to coat. Serve immediately.