Lighten Up Your Potato Salad

This potato salad is creamy and delicious without the traditional heart-heavy ingredients. Replacing unhealthy ingredients with soy products like low-fat silken tofu, miso and enriched soymilk will add numerous health benefits and makes good sense.

The velvet-textured "cream" sauce comes together quickly and is fragrant with flavorful herbs and green peas. You can boil the potatoes in the cool of the evening, cover and store them in the refrigerator, then make the herbed "cream" sauce and assemble the dish the following day. Health-conscious cooks can feel good about serving "Creamy" Herb Potato Salad, a wholesome and satisfying dish.

Creamy Herb Potato Salad

Ingredients:

5 medium red potatoes, unpeeled (about 2-1/2 pounds)
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-1/4 cups chopped red onion
1/2 cup chopped yellow bell pepper
1 rib celery, thinly sliced
1/4 cup whole-wheat flour
1/4 cup dry vermouth
1 cup enriched soymilk
one 12.3-ounce package lite silken tofu
3 Tbsp. mellow white miso
2 Tbsp. dry vermouth
2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
6 large basil leaves, snipped
1 tsp. dried marjoram
1/2 tsp. dried tarragon
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1 cup frozen peas, cooked

Preparation:

Place whole, unpeeled potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, lower heat to medium and cook 40 minutes or until fork-tender. Cool and cut each unpeeled potato in half and then into 1/4-inch slices. Place potatoes in a large bowl and set aside.

In a medium saucepan, warm oil over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, onion, bell pepper and celery. Sauté until tender, 3 minutes. Add flour and stir, about 1 minute. Add the 1/4 cup vermouth and stir for 1 minute or until the mixture forms a paste. Reduce heat to medium-low and add soymilk, 1/4 cup at a time. Stir after each addition, until thickened. Place tofu in a food processor and blend. In a small bowl, blend miso and 2 tablespoons vermouth with a small wire whisk or a fork. Add to the tofu with lemon juice and yeast. Stir gently into the white sauce, and add basil, marjoram, tarragon, thyme and peas. Gently fold cream sauce into potatoes. Serve immediately or chill until ready to serve.

Yield: 8 Servings

Enlightened "Creamy" Herb Potato Salad

Nutrition analysis per serving: 1-1/4 cups

Protein 12g, carbohydrate 39g, fiber 8g, fat 3g, sat. fat 0g, cholesterol 0mg, calcium 118mg, sodium 322 mg.

Calories 234 -- from protein, 20 percent; from carbohydrate, 67 percent; from fat, 13 percent.

Notes on Ingredients:

• Miso is a rich, smooth paste fermented from soybeans and a grain such as rice, and aged one to three years. Mellow white miso is pale beige, with a subtle, sweet fragrance and a rich, creamy texture.

• Enriched soymilk is fortified with vitamins and minerals, particularly calcium, and is widely available in health-food stores and supermarkets.

• Lite silken tofu is a Japanese-style tofu that is very low in fat; it has just one-half gram per 3 ounces. This style of tofu has a smooth, creamy texture and custardlike consistency. Lite silken tofu is widely available in aseptic packages in supermarkets and health-food stores.

Marie Oser is a best-selling author and chef.