Potato Salad with Summer Herbs and White Wine Vinaigrette
July 1, 2010 by Andrea
Filed under Grow Your Own, Holidays, Salads, Vegetables
For us the Fourth of July is about celebrating our nation’s heritage as well as family, friends, parades, fireworks, and of course the annual Fourth of July cookout. Our cookouts vary somewhat from year to year, but we always have some kind of potato salad for the Fourth, and this potato salad recipe is particularly good for summer cookouts because it has no dairy, so you don’t have to worry about it spoiling in the summer heat. Read more
Papas Criollas (Tiny Yellow Potatoes)
October 26, 2009 by Andrea
Filed under Appetizers, Vegetables
One of my fondest food memories is of the tiny round potatoes known as papas criollas from Colombia. The Colombian papas criollas grow wild in the Andes highlands and have a thin, tender skin and a buttery yellow interior that yields an amazing flavor. They are a favorite for soups such as Ajiaco or served as appetizers or sides either roasted, fried, mashed, boiled, or skewered and grilled. Here in the United States you can buy them frozen in some stores or in jars from various online grocers (see Where to Buy below). I have searched for years but still have not found frozen, canned, or fresh papas criollas in any of our local Hispanic or international grocery stores.
If you’ve ever had a memory of food so strong that you still dream of it 15 years later, you’ll understand my excitement when I spotted tiny yellow potatoes in Trader Joe’s last week. Read more
Swabian Potato Salad (Schwäbischer Kartoffelsalat)
We had traditional Swabian potato salad (Schwäbischer kartoffelsalat), a salad which has yellow potatoes and a very simple oil and vinegar dressing, a few times while in Stuttgart. It is often used as a base for salad greens such as arugula or lettuces, and in fact it was served beneath the green salad at every restaurant we visited, a warm golden surprise waiting at the bottom of the plate.
It didn’t taste anything like the German potato salads we’ve had in the U.S. and we initially thought the difference was in the type of vinegar used, and it turns out we were right. Read more
Baked Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Herbs
April 6, 2009 by Andrea
Filed under Grow Your Own, Vegetables
Mashed potatoes were a staple in our home when I was growing up because it’s a simple and inexpensive dish that compliments many of the foods we ate. Fried chicken and country ham just aren’t the same without mashed potatoes and gravy, and they go well with many other dishes. My mother used to make potato pancakes with mashed potato leftovers, but as the kids grew up there were fewer and fewer leftovers. We still laugh about my brothers and the amount of potatoes they could eat as they grew into the teen years. We passed the bowl around the table until it reached my brother Jeff, and he would always ask, “Anyone want any more potatoes?” then proceed to empty the bowl onto his plate. He still jokingly says it when the family gathers for the holidays, but now he’s got more competition for the potatoes.
I don’t remember Mom ever baking mashed potatoes, but I’ve had them a few times with special dinners and they make a perfect accompaniment to Easter ham. The top takes on a slightly crispy crunch and I add fresh parsley, sage, thyme, and chives from our garden to brighten the flavor. We recently built some raised beds and I transplanted the existing herbs to their new home and seeded some cilantro and dill, both of which like the cool spring weather. Next month we’ll add the basil seedlings and the herb garden will be complete. Read more
Irish Beef Stew
March 17, 2009 by Andrea
Filed under Holidays, Soups & Stews
Beef stew is one of my favorite comfort foods, both for the wonderful flavor and the ease of preparation. I saw this recipe at Epicurious a couple years ago and then saw Elise’s notes on how they used some red wine and Guinness Stout in place of some of the beef stock, an idea that definitely appealed to me. For my own touches, I added a pound of beef soup bones for extra flavor, used Yukon Gold potatoes instead of russet, and of course used fresh thyme from our garden. Though it’s not strictly traditional, this recipe has become a St. Patrick’s Day tradition for our family, a stew we look forward to every year. Read more
Red Potato Salad
May 21, 2008 by Andrea
Filed under Salads, Vegetables
Summer would not be the same without some of my favorite foods: barbecued ribs, potato salad, coleslaw, and ice cream. If we cook up a batch of ribs, we must have some potato salad on the side or the meal just doesn’t feel complete. When we first got married Michael wanted me to learn to make hot German potato salad, which uses a vinaigrette for the sauce, so I learned and enjoyed making it for him, but once he tried this mayonnaise salad it became his new favorite.
Many potato salad recipes call for boiling the potatoes, but I prefer to use steam instead because they do not get water logged and they retain their nutrients rather than pouring them out in the water. You want the potatoes to cook evenly and quickly, so use small red potatoes and make sure they are all the same size. I boil water in an electric kettle because it’s very fast, then pour the hot water into the bottom of a 6-quart pot and add the steamer basket, arrange the potatoes in a single layer and let them cook covered while the water boils beneath. Steamer baskets are inexpensive and widely available.
For boiling the eggs I recommend the Cook’s Illustrated method. Cover the eggs with cold water, bring to a boil, turn off the heat and cover and allow to sit in the hot water for 10 minutes. Then place the eggs in an ice bath for five minutes to stop the cooking. As long as I don’t forget about the boiling egg (must remember to use the timer), it cooks perfectly without any gray-green slime around the yolk.
Makes about six cups of potato salad, enough for 8 to 10 servings.
