It’s picnic season, and an all time favorite of mine is this gluten-free, super easy potato and green bean salad. This baby first came into my life during my inaugural Hipcooks class “Healthy, Fresh and Zingy 2“, and I’m happy to say it’s made many appearances over the past few years. The most time consuming part of this dish is boiling and cooling the potatoes, everything else is smooth sailing.

I recommend smaller tri-color potatoes, like the red, yellow and purple ones that come prepackaged from Trader Joe’s (don’t use the golden butterballs, though, found out the hard way that they are not nearly as durable). Fresh green beans from the garden or the farmers market are a great way to add color, crunch and interest, but can also be left out.

Potato, Green Bean and Rustic Pesto Salad

Serves 6 servings; Original recipe from Hipcooks

Ingredients

• 1 bag of tri-color potatoes (from Trader Joe’s or pick up a bunch of small purple, red and yellow potatoes)
• 1/2 lb of green beans, halved
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup pine nuts (lightly toast them just before adding)
• 5 basil leaves, rolled and sliced into long slivers

Directions

Boil potatoes in heavily salted water for about 20 minutes, just until they’re tender. Don’t wait for them to fall apart! While that’s great for mashed potatoes, it doesn’t work so well for a chilled salad dish. Run cold water over the potatoes and let them cool for around 30 minutes in or out of the fridge (the salad doubles well as a warm salad, but I prefer the potatoes to be on the cool side).

Once the potatoes have cooled, pour in olive oil, garlic, green beans, toasted pine nuts and basil and toss until well coated. Add salt to taste (I’d recommend some of the big flaky salt like the kind you get at The Meadow or Maldon salt). And it’s eating time!