Potato Salad

“There is no such thing as really bad potato salad. So long as the potatoes are not undercooked, it all tastes pretty good to me. Some potato salads are sublime, some are miraculous and some are merely ordinary, but I have yet to taste any that was awful. When I was young, potato salad was considered summer food. My mother made her mother’s version, which included chopped celery and catsup in the dressing. It was known as pink potato salad and was served at picnics and barbecues as an accompaniment to fried or grilled chicken. No one would have ever thought of serving it in a formal setting.

Once I was out on my own and could cook to please myself, I figured that since I loved potato salad so much, other people did, too. I began to serve it to my friends at dinner parties.

”Oh, potato salad,” they would say. “I haven’t had any homemade in years!”

I gave it to them with thin sliced, peppery flank steak, and with cold roast chicken in the summer and hot roast chicken in the winter. It was always a hit.”
— "Potato Salad," from Home Cooking, by Laurie Colwin

The only person who loves potato salad more than me is Pandagirl. I shamelessly bribed her to come food shopping with me tonight by promising potato salad with dinner.

My version of potato salad involves frozen peas going into the boiling water with the potatoes for the last 2 minutes. Then it's tossed with chopped scallions, chopped celery, mayonnaise, and mucho chopped dill. I especially love using blue potatoes because it just comes out so pretty, but Trader Joe's had no blues tonight so I went with their aptly named "teeny tiny" potatoes.

This was served on the deck with grilled chicken (marinaded in olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and chopped oregano), and steamed asparagus (naked). And a bouquet of roses and peonies (cough).

Are you a potato salad fan, and if so, what is your special version?

Jicama Slaw

Just in case you were getting sick to death of celery-fennel slaw... I mean, I'm certainly not, I eat it at least once a week and am feeding my addiction by growing my own fennel bulbs (I've tried growing celery a couple times and royally suck at it). But a change is always good, and I have a new slaw for you to try and it's ever so very yum.

Jicama is the tuberous root of a native Mexican vine. It looks very much like a turnip and has the consistency of a water chestnut. Jicama and mango are a match made in heaven. This slaw would by dynamite with swordfish, which I didn't have, but it was just as dynamite on grilled salmon. It could also stand very respectably on its own. Had there been any left, I would've eaten it for breakfast.

Jicama-Mango Slaw

  • 1 jicama (fist-sized), peeled, sliced across, and then cut into matchsticks
  • 1 mango, peeled, sliced, and matchsticked. Peeling a mango is a tiresome job and I get around it by buying the pre-prepped stuff so all I have to do is slice or dice it how I want.
  • 1/2 red onion, sliced as thinly as possible
  • 10-12 cherry tomatoes, quartered
  • 2 tbsp chopped, fresh cilantro
  • Vinaigrette of choice

Combine all ingredients and toss well.

Serve.

Die.

Truffled Brussels Sprouts

Sprout haters, I am never giving up! I will have my way with you! You will come to love the sprouts!

Couple weeks ago we met friends at Croton Creek which is the greatest little steakhouse, right here in Croton Falls. They have this amazing salad of tomatoes, golden beets, arugula and gorgonzola cheese: I've tried to replicate it at home many times and it comes out OK, but never as good as the restaurant, naturally.  

CC also does the best skirt steak, which I always get with horseradish cream sauce and grilled asparagus.  

On this particular night, Jeeps ordered a side of the truffled brussels sprouts and holy cow, how have I missed these for all this time?! They were AMAZING.

I wanted to try recreating those, but that meant procuring either truffles, or truffle oil. DeCicco's came up trumps with the oil, but let me warn you, I don't know what truffles are fetching in your neck of the woods but this little 8.45 oz bottle was $16.00. It's right up there with vanilla beans and saffron threads. Guard it well. And if you are one of my local followers, I will lend you some. 

I found a recipe that seemed to match up with what I remembered of Croton Creek's version.  I couldn't roast the sprouts because the oven was occupied by a chicken at the time, so I decided to pan-sear them in my cast iron skillet.  While not as rapturously good as the ones at Croton Creek, they certainly didn't suck.

Truffled Brussels Sprouts à la Croton Creek

  • 1 lb brussels sprouts, ends trimmed and halved
  • 1 clove garlic, minced fine
  • 1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 1-2 tbsps truffle oil
  • Olive oil, sea salt and ground pepper

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Arrange sprouts cut-side down in the skillet and leave them there until caramelized golden-brown. Sprinkle with sea salt and ground pepper, toss well in the skillet, cover, and lower heat.

Cook on stovetop, shaking pan occasionally, until sprouts are tender. Sprinkle with the parmesan cheese, stir to coat, cover and let sit another 5 minutes.

Remove pan from heat, slide sprouts into serving bowl. Sprinkle with lemon juice and truffle oil, toss to combine. Serve immediately.  

Be converted.

Spring Seedlings

It really is ridiculous how happy I am having fresh herbs to cook with again. And I am days away from a first salad harvest from the garden. What's that, you'd like a tour? I'd be delighted. It's still all babies and I need to mulch it as soon as Jeeps can give me grass clippings. But anyway, come along and look.

Spinach and radishes on the left. Carrots on the right, which need thinning, which is an OCD job I loathe, but it's the nature of the beast.  

Next bed over, I'm growing fennel. Fennel fennel fennel, I planted like 24 bulbs of it. LOVE fennel. Last night I sauteed chicken sausage with red onions, yellow peppers, cherry tomatoes and zucchini. And right at the end I ran out, clipped off a bunch of feathery fennel tops, clipped another bunch of fresh parsley, chopped it all up and stirred it in. There wasn't a scrap left.

On the right are broccoli seedlings surrounded by radishes. I companion-plant whenever possible, and I read that these two go well together. So I made a grid of radish seeds and planted the broccoli inside the boxes. On the other hand, the same source said, rather vehemently, not to companion-plant fennel with ANYTHING. So if the whole garden should fail, we all know why.

Pea plants are starting to climb. Nearly a third of this crop, which was planted near the tulips, was wiped out by a vicious pack of voles. We've declared war with bait and snap traps. Killed five of them in one day. And I enjoyed it.

For dinner tonight we were having burgers on the grill, but on the side I sauteed red onion and garlic in olive oil, then added a can of drained, rinsed cannelini beans and let it cook on low about ten minutes. Then I added half a bag of baby spinach and some chopped parsley. I'm kind of a parsley whore.

Bouquet by Panda. I love handing her scissors and a mason jar and saying, "Pick something for the table." Usually she just has at it, but tonight I did give specific direction because my columbines are in bloom, and these purple ones look pretty with the chartreuse leaves of a golden bleeding heart. She arranged it beautifully though.

(Sigh)...I love spring.

Mother's Day Pinwheels

Breakfast was big on Mother's Day, but dinner was about using the leftovers. I had leftover beef stew, and one (1) sheet of puff pastry from the ham and pea tart. I also had tons of fresh herbs because that afternoon we'd gone to Claire's Nursery & Garden Center in Patterson, NY, which is a Mother's Day ritual. They don't have a website so I can't link, but truly they are the greatest nursery on the planet. If you're in the area, I highly recommend stopping by.

Anyway, with a fistful of parsley, thyme, basil and oregano I decided to use the puff pastry to make some parmesan-herb pinwheels to go along with the stew and orzo.

Parmesan-Herb Pinwheels

  • Fistful of any kind of fresh herbs, chopped fine
  • 2-3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
  • 1 egg or egg white

Preheat oven to 425. Spray a baking sheet with Pam.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the puff pastry. Brush with beaten egg or egg white.

Sprinkle with herbs and parmesan.

Starting at one end, roll up pastry like a jelly roll. Press the seam down.

With a sharp knife, cut 1/2" slices and place on baking sheet.

Bake 10-11 minutes until golden brown. Immediately reserve 3 or 4 for yourself because you are the Mommy and you must get yours.

Serve.  Stand back.  Be adored.

Instead of pinwheels, you can put the herbs and cheese on 1/2 the puff pastry rectangle, then fold the plain half over and roll it out a little again. Trim the ends to make a neat rectangle, then cut into 1/2" strips. Twist each strip to make a cheese straw. Bake 10-11 minutes. A little more labor intensive but very attractive served at a cocktail party.

Conference Crock

Conference Crock (n): Assembling a dish in the slow cooker while on a conference call.
Mutation (n):  Repeatedly checking the mute button on your phone while you assemble a conference crock.

This is a mongrel recipe of my own devices, and a few ideas off the internet. I had half an hour to throw it together and as a result, I took no pictures during the prep. You just get the money shot.

Mongrel Beef Stew

  • 2 lbs boneless chuck steak, cut into 1/2" pieces
  • 1 packet Lipton onion soup mix
  • 4-5 carrots, diced
  • 10-12 mushrooms, stemmed and quartered
  • 1/2 bag of frozen pearl onions
  • 1/3 cup flour
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup red wine
  • 1/2 bag frozen peas

Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Put flour in ziplock bag. Add half the meat pieces, shake to coat, and put into skillet. Cook until browned on all sides then put meat in slow cooker. Brown other half of meat the same way. Deglaze the pan with the red wine, scraping the bits up, then pour wine into slow cooker.

Put carrots, mushrooms, onions and tomato paste into slow cooker. If you have time you can give the mushrooms a quick saute but it's not necessary. Pour the onion soup mix over all. Add water and cover.

I didn't start this until 1 in the afternoon so I put David on high for 3 hours, then turned it to low. If you are starting earlier, just put it on low for 6-8 hours. I stirred every now and then and added another cup of red wine when I felt it was too thick. You could also just add plain water, the onion soup mix has enough flavor of its own and in fact, I wouldn't use beef broth because the soup mix is on the salty side. I didn't season the meat with salt and pepper for this reason.

Before serving, stir in the frozen peas and cover cooker again until heated through.

Serve with pasta, egg noodles or mashed potatoes.

A Creative Use of Leftovers

Redman loves rice, all kinds. Yellow rice and peas especially. But what can you do with the rest of it two days later? Or any kind of leftover rice/pea or rice/bean dish?

You can mix 2 or 3 eggs into it, form into patties and fry them up. They go well on top of a salad, or on the side of soup. Served with steamed broccoli and fennel-celery slaw, it all makes for a very nice vegetarian meal.

Speaking of which, some of you have asked if I am striving towards more vegetarian fare. I'm not, although it is a healthier way of eating and I get a lot of good ideas from the Moosewood Cookbook, and also from Stacey Snacks, who has her Meatless Mondays. We're not shy about eating meat around here, but Jeeps and I are pretty in sync about when we need to pull back and go with the plant life. When my vegetable garden is in full swing, we definitely eat less meat.

By the way, the rice-and-pea patties were the perfect vehicle for pickled red onions. Even Pandagirl tried them in combination and liked them.

Twig and Wheat Berries

Oh behave. My torrid affair with the Moosewood Cookbook continues, and I have unusual grains like Wheat Berries tucked in a corner of my mind. So when I see a bag of Red Mill White Wheat Berries on the shelf at DeCicco's, I think, Ah-hah, yes, I should buy these.

Wheat berries refers to the entire wheat kernel, except for the hull:

They resemble barley, and take about an hour and change to prepare. They smell really good while cooking—toasty, nutty, with a little bit of vanilla in there as well. The Red Mill bag had a salad recipe on the back which I tweaked to suit my own purposes, and served with some grilled apple sausage.

Tweaked Red Mill Wheat Berry Salad

  • 1 cup cooked wheat berries (1/2 cup grains to 1 3/4 cup water, simmered for at least an hour)
  • 1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
  • 10-12 cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 2-3 stalks celery, sliced
  • 1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced
  • 2-3 scallions, sliced, or 1 tbsp dried, minced onion
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
  • Vinaigrette of olive oil, white wine vinegar and honey mustard (or equal parts honey and dijon mustard but the mustard really is the star that pulls the salad together, don't skip it)

Combine all ingredients, toss well. Serve.

Die.

The greens are a sauteed kale, red onion and toasted corn salad which my friend Cyd told me about only in terms of ingredients. I kind of just fudge it all together and it's awesome (plus it addresses some of my anemia issues).