I’ve met some amazing people through this whole blogging thing. Jess Goldman Foung is one of those people. She is the embodiment of sunshine and I am so grateful to know her.

Jess has a food blog called Sodium Girl, not because she eats sodium but because she doesn’t! Due to health reasons years ago, Jess had to cut salt from her diet and reduce her sodium intake significantly. Instead of moping she embraced the challenge and is now a low-sodium genius. Jess just published her first cookbook, Sodium Girl’s Limitless Low-Sodium Cookbook. It is beautiful, full of great food, well-designed and organized, easy to ready, informational and fun. It is a fabulous resource if you want to learn how to reduce or cut out sodium.

To celebrate the book launch, Jess has organized a Love Your Heart Recipe Rally, where a group of food bloggers re-create a favorite recipe without using salt. Be sure to click through to Jess’s rally post to read more facts about sodium and see the other featured recipes!

Jess is also hosting a giveaway. You could win a Vitamix. You know how I love super, duper, powerful, knock-your-socks-off blenders. You need one, so you should totally enter the giveaway! (See the Rafflecopter entry form at the bottom of this post to enter.)

So, on to my recipe makeover. Let me begin with this: I love salt. A lot. (I blame my low blood pressure rather than weak will power. ;)) But I also love Jess a lot, so when she invited me to be a part of the rally, I had to accept. But, I must admit, the idea of taking a deliciously-salty dish and figuring out how to make it salt-free was intimidating.

I thought long and hard and decided I need to try to make a potato dish with no salt. One of the reasons I make such good potatoes of all kinds is due to my liberal use of salt. I honestly did not believe I could eliminate this crucial ingredient and still make a good potato dish. This was my chance to try!

Here was my thought process:

• I decided to do roasted potatoes because I normally I just use salt and pepper. No salt would certainly be a challenge!
• I chose to use fingerling potatoes. Since they are smaller, I thought the ratio of potato to flavorings on the skin would be well-balanced. We’re looking to maximize flavor, here!
• Roasted garlic is magical. Tons of flavor but {surprisingly} not over-powering. I decided if roasted garlic smeared on bread is good all by itself, then it would probably be good smeared on potatoes, too.
• Balsamic vinegar packs a big flavor punch and goes great with garlic.
• Olive oil is heart healthy, flavorful and complements garlic and balsamic vinegar well.

The potatoes ended up being delicious! Great texture and flavor. Cate and Owen kept going back for seconds, which means success in my book. I must admit that I sprinkled a smidge of salt on a few of mine, because I  just couldn’t help myself. Of course it tasted mighty fine with the salt, but honestly, the salt wasn’t necessary.

Here is the recipe!

Roasted Garlic and Fingerling Potatoes

 

Print

From Jane Maynard, This Week for Dinner

Author: Jane Maynard

Cuisine: Side Dish

Ingredients

• About 20-30 fingerling potatoes
• ½ cup olive oil
• 10-15 garlic cloves, skins removed
• 8 teaspoons balsamic vinegar (read the label to check for sodium content!)
• Parsley (dried or fresh chopped)
• Pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Place 4-5 of the garlic cloves in olive oil in a small, oven-proof dish. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until cloves are soft. Remove from oven and raise oven temperature to 400 degrees F. Smash up garlic cloves in the oil and let cool. Whisk in balsamic vinegar until oil and vinegar are well mixed.
3. Toss potatoes along with the rest of the garlic cloves in the oil and vinegar mixture. Spread evenly on a foil-lined pan and cook in the 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes, until you can pierce the potatoes with a knife.
4. Remove potatoes and whole garlic cloves from the pan and discard the foil (the vinegar/oil/garlic mixture will get all dark and sticky and gooey and sorta burned in places on the pan – that’s okay, but you don’t need it anymore at this point). Toss the cooked potatoes and whole garlic cloves with a bit more balsamic vinegar, parsley and pepper to taste.

3.2.2646

If you would like to enter the Vitamix giveaway (and you should!), use the entry form below! (Giveaway begins at 9:00 am PT Tuesday, 2/12 and runs through 12:00 am PT Monday, 2/18. Giveaway rules can be found at the bottom of Jess’s Recipe Rally post.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Many congratulations to Jess on her beautiful book! So happy for you, Jess, and excited for you to share your healthy message with the world!

OTHER RECIPES YOU MAY LIKE:

• Leftover Boiled Potato Problem Solved
• Crispy Rosemary Roasted Potatoes
• Roasted Japanese Sweet Potatoes

EQUIPMENT I USED TO MAKE THIS RECIPE:

• Pyrex 9″ x 13″ Baking Dish
• OXO Silicone Spatula
• Aluminum Half Sheet Pan
• Olive Oil Cruet
• Wusthof Classic Chef’s Knife