Beet, Pickled Herring, and Potato Salad

Roasted beets and blue potatoes from the farm share, mixed with pickled herring chunks and red onion in a potato salad perhaps only a Scandinavian would love.

 Follow me | Pinterest | Instagram | Facebook

My family Christmas Eve tradition is a Scandinavian style smorgasbord reflecting our Norwegian and Swedish heritage with Danish and Finnish influences and the occasional Icelandic cheese. It is not an official competition, but you get bonus points for all the various ways you can serve herring at your table. [None of the ways involve dessert, ease your mind.]

When I got blue potatoes in the last Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share of the year, I thought it would be fun to add another herring dish to the spread by making a beet & potato salad with pickled herring. I already know beets and pickled herring go well together from my Quick Pickled Beet and Herring Salad. I've enjoyed a shockingly pink sildesalat which combines smoked herring, potatoes and beets. So this combination is not a stretch--if you're used to the above--which is why I thought it appropriate to serve at my family celebration last year. With so many herring lovers around the table alongside me, my spouse and kids were in the minority and the salad was seen as a normal addition, not something far out.

If you're not Scandinavian, this probably seems really strange. Could be worse. Could be lutefisk. Just try this instead.

For more recipes using beets, please see my Beet Recipes Collection. For more recipes using potatoes, please see my Potato Recipes Collection. These collections are part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me keeping up their heritage through food and eating seasonally from the farm share, the farmer's market, and garden abundance. Follow me on Pinterest, on Instagram, and on Facebook for recipe ideas and behind the scenes shots. Want to know How to Use this Blog?

Beet, Pickled Herring, and Potato Salad

Ingredients

• 2 cups cubed roasted beets (I roast mine at 400 degrees F wrapped in foil for about an hour)
• 2½ to 3 pounds small potatoes, any color, boiled in salted water until tender then drained
• ½ to 1 cup chopped pickled herring (the kind in wine sauce with onion)
• ½ cup chopped red onion
• ¼ cup crème fraîche
• ¼ cup mayonnaise
• ½ teaspoon salt, to start, I use kosher
• ½ teaspoon pepper, to start, I use freshly ground

Instructions

1. If you haven't roasted the beets, do so. They keep, roasted, in the fridge for several days if you've got a reason to have the oven on.
2. If you haven't boiled the potatoes, do so. While I prefer my potato salads mixed when the potatoes are still a bit warm from cooking, other people in the house like cold potato salads. Do what you prefer.
3. Mix everything together in a large bowl. Taste. Add more salt and pepper as you like. Serve.
4. Don't forget to toast the fish with akvavit! Skal!