Starting out as a meal of pure convenience, this dish has evolved into a nice little symbiotic interaction of temperature, taste and texture. Reheating baked potato is easy but they can be dry — this is easily fixed with a dash of tamari and olive oil. A coating of cashew parmesan gives a “healthy wedges” effect, really tasty but not fried. The aromatic tomato layer gets gently warmed by the potato and releases tasty juices which add valuable moisture.
I enjoy salad more when I eat it before the rest of the meal, while my taste buds are fresh. Putting it on top of the rest makes sure this happens, you have to eat your way through to the other stuff! There’s a bonus too, since the simple dressing trickles down as added flavour for the other two layers. I keep a constant supply of cashew parmesan in the pantry, it’s my new wonder add-on and is great anywhere you have excess liquid that could use a flavour boost. What I really love about a meal like this is getting to choose what goes on each forkful, it’s a chance to experiment and enjoy with every bite. You could easily swap baked potato for pumpkin or kumara too, just add extra lemon to balance their sweetness.
Ingredients
| 1 large | Baked potato, we used a cold, leftover agria (Main) |
| 1 tsp | Tamari sauce, or soy sauce, use more/less to taste |
| 1 Tbsp | Olive oil |
| 1 Tbsp | Cashew parmesan, see recipe below |
| 3 medium | Tomatoes, finely chopped |
| ¼ tsp | Salt |
| ¼ tsp | Freshly ground black pepper |
| 3 leaves | Fresh basil, sliced |
| ⅓ cup | Baby rocket, roughly chopped |
| 3 leaves | Cos lettuce |
| 1 piece | Cucumber, approx 3cm, thinly sliced |
| 1 pinch | Salt |
| ½ tsp | Lemon juice |
Cashew parmesan
| 1 cup | Cashew nuts, raw or lightly roasted |
| 2 Tbsp | Nutritional yeast |
| ½ tsp | Garlic powder |
| ½ tsp | Salt |
Directions
- Reheat the baked potato in oven for 5 minutes or microwave for 1 minute, then cut into bite-sized chunks. Sprinkle with tamari, olive oil and cashew parmesan then toss in a bowl until well coated. Place in a serving bowl.
- Toss chopped tomato with salt, pepper, basil and rocket together then layer on top of potato.
- Break up cos lettuce into chunks with fingers and add with cucumber on top of tomato layer. Finally, add a pinch of salt then wash it down through the salad with the lemon juice.
- To make the cashew parmesan, use a food processor to blend all ingredients into a fine crumble. This makes enough for the salad with plenty to spare (it keeps well in the fridge or pantry).
