Mary Berry’s Genius Potato Salad Addition Transforms It Into A Main

I can stand some Irish stereotypes; actually, yes, we do all know each other (more or less). And yep, we love potatoes ― what sane person wouldn’t?

I like mine baked, fried, chipped, boiled, mashed, and, uh, be-saladed (?). But It wasn’t until I read Mary Berry’s version of the dish that I started eating it on its own for lunch.

That’s because the Cordon Bleu-trained chef adds tasty (and omega 3 and protein-rich) salmon and prawns to her dish, not only making it more delicious but also turning it into a more balanced meal.

In fact, the dish is so tasty that it’s earned a five-star rating on its BBC page ― having tried it myself, I can understand why.

The dish also contains radishes

The tasty addition of radishes to the dish adds a crisp and peppery bite to the meal, balancing out the mushy spuds and tender fish.

It holds up well during storage, too ― in fact, all of this recipe does. “The potato salad can be made a day in advance and stored in the fridge, adding the radish, freshly cooked salmon and the prawns up to four hours ahead,” the BBC’s page suggests.

In order to hold up longer against refrigeration, Mary Berry recommends using thicker, middle-cut salmon from the centre of the fish, rather than the tail.

The result is a delicious, balanced dish with loads of contrasting texture and complex flavours ― way, way better than your standard spud salad.

What’s the recipe, then?

You’ll need three middle-cut salmon fillets, each weighing 125 grams or four and a half ounces, with their skin left on. Additionally, the recipe calls for one lemon and 16 cooked tiger prawns.

For the potato salad, you’ll need 500 grams of baby new potatoes, four tablespoons of olive oil, three tablespoons of Dijon mustard, one tablespoon of caster sugar, and three tablespoons of white wine vinegar.

You’ll also require six tablespoons of mayonnaise, one bunch of thinly sliced spring onions, 150 grams of thinly sliced radishes, four finely chopped celery sticks, one small bunch of finely chopped flatleaf parsley, salt, and freshly ground black pepper. This makes enough for six people.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C Fan/Gas Mark 4, and line a baking tray with kitchen foil.

To prep the salad, place the potatoes in a saucepan of salted water and bring them to a boil. Allow them to cook for approximately 15 minutes or until they are tender ― once they’re cooked, drain them and then slice ’em into quarters.

While the potatoes are cooking, place the salmon fillets skin-side down on the foil-lined baking tray. Squeeze half of the lemon juice over them and season them with salt and pepper. Cover the fillets with foil, seal to make a parcel, and bake for about 15 minutes or until just cooked. Once that’s done, remove them from the oven and let them cool before removing the skin.

For the salad, combine oil, mustard, sugar, and vinegar in a large bowl. Add the hot potatoes, season with salt and pepper, and set aside to cool. After that, you can mix in the mayonnaise, spring onions, radishes, and celery. Adjust the seasoning to your taste and add the remaining lemon juice.

Gently flake the cooked salmon into large pieces and stir it into the salad with the prawns and half of the chopped parsley, ensuring you don’t accidentally mash any spuds. Serve sprinkled with the remaining parsley.

Voila ― you’ve got an elite potato salad that’s bulky and balanced enough to count as a full meal (at least, I’ve eaten it for dinner with a baguette twice this week).

Enjoy!

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Mary Berry’s Unexpected Secret Ingredient For The Best Shortbread

Marry Berry, unsurprisingly, has a lot of culinary tricks up her sleeve ― she adds muscovado sugar to her cottage pie, uses an extra yolk in her pancake, and even coats her roast spuds in semolina.

And now, it seems the Cordon Bleu-trained chef has a secret for shortbread, too.

In her recipe for the simple Scottish delicacy, Mary Berry goes beyond the typical sugar-flour-butter recipe we’d expect.

Instead, she adds another ingredient for extra crunch ― semolina (yup, like for her roast spuds).

Why semolina?

Semolina is a hard flour, the less finely-milled version of durum wheat (which is used for pasta).

It has more gluten and protein than all-purpose wheat four, as well as more flavour. And because it’s coarser, it doesn’t become soft and fluffy as easily as all-purpose flour ― meaning it’ll help to provide a structure and bite to your baked goods.

“I like to use semolina as well as flour to give the shortbread crunch, but you can use cornflour or ground rice instead,” Mary Berry says.

What’s Mary Berry’s shortbread recipe?

First, you should preheat your oven to 160°C/Fan 140°C/gas 3, and grease a 30cm x 23cm roasting or traybake tin.

You’ll need 225g (8oz) of plain flour, 100g (4oz) of semolina, 225g (8oz) of butter, 100g (4oz) of caster sugar, 50g (2oz) of flaked almonds (there aren’t mandatory), and 25g (1oz) of demerara sugar for dusting.

Combine the flour and semolina in a bowl or food processor. Incorporate the butter and sugar, then use your fingertips to rub them together until the mixture starts to come together. Gently knead the mixture until it forms a smooth dough.

Spread the dough into a baking tray and then press its top until even with a knife or spatula. Then, prick its surface with a fork, add your flaked almonds if you like, and store it in the fridge to chill until it’s firm.

After it’s chilled, bake it for 35 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Sprinkle it with demerara sugar after it leaves the oven. Then, after a few minutes, cut it into 30 fingers in the tin and leave those to cool further on a cooling rack.

Enjoy ― store any leftovers on a cooling rack (though I’d be amazed if you had any.)

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