Quick Potluck Salad

Saturday night  Oxbow Stables held its annual awards dinner.  It's a large potluck affair where the kids at the barn who ride in the 4H and the Pony Club give out their awards for their completion of tasks in the past year and awards for high scores in horse shows are handed out.  It's an exciting time for the kids.  For the adults it can be a bit of a snoozefest.  Still, it is nice to socialize with everyone outside the mud and manure and see what we all look like when we're not dressed in barn clothes.

The other fun part of it is the food.  It's great to see what everyone's specialties are.  There is always so much to try and it's hard to make a choice and it's hard to try it all, even though you want to.

Kevin and I were assigned to bring a salad.  He was skeptical of that.  His reaction was that they forget when they send out the invites that we have a long way to travel and can't be transporting perishable salads.  We were planning to just buy some soda to contribute to the beverage table.

Then I thought about it.  Salads don't have to be perishable.  Tamar Adler defines a salad as "Anything cooked or raw, cut up a little, mixed firmly with acid, salt and a little fat, laid carefully onto a plate, or spooned nicely into a bowl."  Surely I could make something like that to take to the party.

I decided on sweet potatoes.  They are sturdy and keep well.  I mixed them into a cold potato salad with black beans, tomatoes, and red onion and then made a dressing of lime juice, chipotle, honey, cumin, and cilantro.

 There are other salads like this, but this one is mine.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Salad

Ingredients

• 3 lbs sweet potatoes, cut into chunks
• 1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 red onion, finely diced
• 2 pints cherry tomatoes - red and yellow if you can get them
• Juice of two limes
• 1 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp chipotle powder
• 2 Tbl chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 Tbl honey
• 1/2 cup olive oil 

Cook sweet potatoes in salted boiling water until a little less than fork tender.  Darin and rinse with cold water.  Remove skins. 

In a small bowl combine lime juice, cumin, chipotle powder, cilantro and honey.  Slowly stream in the olive oil and whisk vigorously until a good emulsion has formed.

Place potatoes, beans, onion, and tomatoes in a large bowl.  Toss with dressing.  Allow to sit a few hours before serving so flavors can really meld.