Potato Poke Salad
Ilona O’Brien, Chef/Caterer,
Island Gourmet Catering, Captain
Cook, Hawaii; Relief Restaurant
Manager, Outrigger Keauhou Beach
Resort, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
2 t. sesame oil
1 lemon, juiced
2 T. oyster sauce
1½ t. crushed red pepper flakes
8 leaves iceberg lettuce
2 T. cilantro leaves, for garnish
Yield: 4 servings
1¼ lbs. boiled potatoes, cut in ½-inch
cubes
¼ cup minced onion
¼ cup minced green onion
1 t. minced fresh ginger
2 T. lightly crumbled seaweed
1 T. ground kukui (candlenuts)
Method: In mixing bowl, combine
potatoes, onion, green onion, ginger,
seaweed, kukui, sesame oil, lemon juice,
oyster sauce and red pepper flakes.
Cover; refrigerate at least 1 hour. To
serve: Arrange lettuce leaves on serving
platter; spoon potato poke on top.
Garnish with cilantro.
Playful poke
Ilona O’Brien pays homage to Hawaiian
poke with her potato poke salad. The chef/
caterer for Island Gourmet Catering, Captain
Cook, Hawaii, and relief restaurant manager
for Outrigger Keauhou Beach Resort,
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, often turns a favorite
recipe into a new one that combines classic
and unique flavors that sound tasty and
healthy. “I thought of potato poke salad as a
new twist to a lighter, healthier potato salad
without the mayonnaise,” says O’Brien.
best with things people are familiar with,
since it’s a quirky dish. It complements any
picnic-style, homestyle protein. It definitely
catches people off guard,” she says.
Warm it up
Todd Downs, president of Food Sense
Inc., a culinary consultant group in Fort
Wayne, Ind., heats up typically cold potato
salad—literally. “I like to dress potatoes for
salad while the potatoes are still warm,”
says Downs. “The potatoes absorb more
marinade that way, and the flavors are
brought out more.”
vinaigrette with slow-roasted, caramelized
Meyer lemon, Dijon mustard and olive oil.
He tosses each vegetable in vinaigrette,
and drizzles herb pesto atop each potato.
(Downs cautions that ingredients should
be kept separate until plating, otherwise,
the colors will bleed together.)
She prepares potato poke salad the same
way that ahi poke is prepared, with similar
ingredients except that cubed cooked
potatoes substitute for cubed ahi or other
kinds of seafood. O’Brien combines boiled
potatoes, minced onion, green onion, ginger,
seaweed, kukui nuts, sesame oil, lemon,
oyster sauce and red pepper in a mixing bowl.
She lets that refrigerate for at least an hour
for the flavors to come together, then serves.
“The salad is a really nice combination of
ingredients, and pairs great with fish, chicken,
pork or quail,” he says. “The ingredients are
hearty, but the flavors are light.”
“You can dress it up more by adding bacon
bits to top this salad, or soy bacon bits for
vegetarians,” she says.
His warm potato/beet/Roma tomato salad
with herb pesto capitalizes on summer
flavors. To prepare, Downs seasons
and bakes red and golden beets, yellow
fingerling potatoes, red onion and Roma
tomatoes. “Roasted beets and tomatoes
are my favorite things to work with in the
summer,” he says. Then he builds a lemon
Emulate another salad
Bold and hearty—that’s the type of salad
Bill Fuller, corporate chef for Big Burrito
Restaurant Group, a 13-unit restaurant
group based in Pittsburgh, wanted to add
to the menu at Casbah Mediterranean
Kitchen & Wine Bar. Using the concept
of a classic spinach salad, that’s exactly
what he did when he developed an arugula
Arugula salad with potatoes, cremini
mushrooms and pancetta vinaigrette is
based on a classic spinach salad and
given an Italian flavor by Bill Fuller of
Big Burrito Restaurant Group.
