With it being St. Patrick's Day, I am obviously turning everything that I eat today green. And pairing it with a side of Guinness (although that is not an actual ingredient in this dish and therefore entirely optional!). I am not the biggest holiday person on the planet. But I am a foodie and will take absolutely any and every opportunity to theme an entire dish around it! Hence why this St. Patrick's Day I am not going out to the pub and waiting in endless droves of 20-something year old's to for green beers and French fries. Rather, I'm going with Spinach Tartar Sauce.
My Culinary Process
I am a full-fledged adult and can drink Guinness at home with my own freshly made green foods at a much more fiscally responsible price point! Which is really just the excuse that I am going with because I'm an introvert who doesn't necessarily enjoy partying with the college kids any more. But I digress. I do actually really enjoy themed meals.
I have also been going through my cupboard trying to figure out how to use all of the ingredients that I apparently just hoard. This week I am going through some of the many, many, many pickle jars that I've apparently acquired with nothing to do with them!
Although my intention when buying them is always tartar sauce. Now, I adore tartar sauce. But I'm not the biggest fan of mayonnaise. This means that I almost always swap out the mayonnaise for Greek yogurt. Greek yogurt has a similar enough consistency and appearance to make an easy swap. I also prefer the light and airiness of the taste in comparison. Although you can easily swap back in the mayonnaise in equal proportions if that's not your cup of tea! For this dish, I also puréed spinach because it is St. Patrick's Day and, obviously, absolutely everything today must be some form of green mossy hue. Hence the oh-so-fun Green Spinach Tartar Sauce for St. Patrick's Day.
Gallery
Variations of Spinach Tartar Sauce
I specifically made this Green Tartar Sauce to use in a St. Patrick's Day Green Pasta Salad w/ Spinach & Greek Yogurt. Although I am quite the fan of making Greek Yogurt Tartar Sauce in various other capacities. You can swap back in the mayonnaise for a more classic Tartar Sauce.
This St. Patrick's Day-themed Tartar Sauce is naturally dyed green with spinach, Greek yogurt, dill pickles, shallots, garlic, and freshly squeezed lemon juice.
If you're making tartar sauce ahead of time, let it sit in the refrigerator for at least a couple of hours before adjusting the seasoning. It will take time for the salt, pepper, garlic, etc. to permeate the mayonnaise. They will be significantly more pronounced after refrigeration than they are initially.
This means that it can be very easy to overdo it on the seasoning, so it’s better it act with caution and add more later if it’s still necessary. I have a tendency to do this with garlic and onion, especially. If you’re like me and you tend to go to far in this aspect, adding more lemon juice and mayonnaise tends to balance it out. But it helps to save yourself the hassle and just add less to begin with!
Unless you’re a very diligent mincer, this is going to be a rather chunky tartar sauce. If you’re going for less of a rustic consistency, you can purée all of the ingredients in a food processor.
It's quite easy to change up this recipe and put your own spin on it. A lot of tartar sauces include capers, parsley, tarragon, eggs, and/or mustard. Some fanciful tartar sauces are even known to use crème fraîche, instead of mayonnaise.
For a slightly less bad for you recipe, you can substitute full fat mayonnaise for an olive oil or vegan mayonnaise variety. However, let’s be real here, nothing about a mayonnaise-based dish is ever going to be good for you! In these cases, I tend to call the whole meal desert and make a mental note to try to fit an extra workout in. Although that is likely more wishful thinking than anything else! After all, there is definitely something to be said for indulging in some good food from time to time.
This Page Contains Edited Images
As a general rule, I don't like to edit images. Food styling, editing, alteration, and even faking entirely is just as rampant a problem in the recipe realm. Cooking is a very visual art and you can tell when a lot of foods are cooked based on the color. So, when this is altered and you can't use the coloration as a gauge, it makes it quite difficult to follow some recipes. I have an entire article about Food Styling and Unrealistic Expectations of Recipes. My place has very warm lighting, though. So, sometimes my camera overcompensates and ends up with an unnatural hues. I've adjusted the hues, levels, and/or cropped the following images:
Leave a Reply