Pasta Salad

I was looking for a side dish that would also serve as a light lunch.  I wanted it cold, mainly because it's hot outside.  I also didn't want anything mayonnaise-based much for the same reasons.  I settled on making a pasta salad.  Nothing earth-shattering, it was just something light and tasty.  I did have a few other requirements.  For example a light dressing, not only not mayo-based but something you don't need a lot of it.  I wanted it to compliment the flavors of the other ingredients, not overrule them.  What I discovered was that you can put pretty much any veggie you like and a wide selection of cold-cuts.  It's more versatile than I thought and it's a great way to deal with a few veggie-draw leftovers.  For example those basil leaves left over from a Caprese salad, or that half a cucumber or onion.  Here's what I did:

I boiled up a pot of the three-color rotini pasta, 12 oz box.  It's not that the green and red one are flavored all that different from the white ones, but the color contrast works nicely.  Cook this slightly past aldente -- and I mean slightly.  If you overcook these, they tend to fall apart.  The reason I go slight past aldente is that since this is a cold dish, aldente pasta tends to become a little harder once cooled down.  My preference more than anything else.  Once cooked and drained, set aside to cool.

While it was cooling, I broke out the chef's knife and started cutting and chopping.  Here's what I had on hand for my first attempt at this sort of salad:

• 1 whole cucumber, peeled (it was an older one and the peel tends to get bitter), small dice
• 1 medium red onion, small dice
• 1 large sweet red bell pepper, small dice
• 1 medium ham steak, also small dice
• 1 head of broccoli, chopped
• 2 carrots cut and sliced into thin matchsticks about an inch or so long
• 1 ball of mozzarella (1/4 inch cube dice).  I prefer fresh over the part-skim drier form.
• 4 green onions, sliced on a bias, about 1/4 inch long
• 4 basil leaves, chiffon-ed. That is rolled up together lengthwise, then thinly sliced with a sharp knife across the width.  You end up ribbons of basil.

Lastly the dressing, you put 3 Tbs of red wine vinegar in a bowl, add about 2 tsp of Dijon mustard and one finely chopped (or minced) garlic clove.  Then whisk as you slowly drizzle in 6 Tbs of good olive oil (extra-virgin is best).  The ratio of 3:1 or 4:1 seems to work well.  If you drop it to 2:1 it tastes more of the vinegar, and anything over 4:1 comes across a little oily texture.  For this type of dressing, I stay away from the county-style Dijon's, they are a bit lumpy and the flavor doesn't seem to distribute that well.

Once you are done adding the oil, whisk for another minute or two, check the seasoning for taste and add salt and pepper.  It's a nice light dressing and you won't need a lot of it.  In fact it all depends on the volume of the other ingredients.  I usually dress with half and see how things look and taste before I add any more.

And that it.  Just put everything in a large bowl and dress to your taste.  Like I said, this was what I had on hand.  The ingredients for this sort of summer salad are pretty versatile.  If my veggie drawer had a different selection, I would have used that.

An added note, I did this salad a second time and added some diced fresh button mushrooms.  The flavor was good, but they were a little woody.  So the next time, I made up the dressing early and twice the usual amount.  Then I marinated the mushrooms for a couple of hours before doing the rest.  That softened them up and they became more part of the whole instead of a slightly discordant note.

Hard-boiled eggs, leftover chicken or turkey, shredded lettuce, celery, and even a little canned tuna might work well in various combinations.  I am also tempted to spice things up a bit with some jalapeno, cilantro, and even red pepper flake, but that will have to wait until I am flying solo.  Not everyone appreciates such spices.

Warm Potato Salad

I came across a Wolfgang Puck recipe for a warm potato salad and it sounded interesting. However I can't find the recipe. But since I did read it, I tried to re-create it as best I could and the result were delicious. So hat's off to Chef Puck for being the inspiration. If I find the recipe again, I'll compare and see how close I got.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs fingerling or small red skin or white potatoes. I used small whites. Whatever you do -- no baking potatoes.
• Salt
• 1 large clove of garlic, cut in half
• Fresh or dried parsley
• Fresh or dried thyme
• A small white or yellow onion
• 1/2 cup of white wine vinegar
• 1/4 of olive oil
• 1/2 cup of water
• 2 Tbs of sugar
• Fresh ground back pepper

Prep and assembly:

• Cover the potatoes and the garlic clove pieces in water, add a teaspoon or so of Kosher salt.
• Boil until tender. I use the knife test. Of course the smaller the potatoes, the quicker they will cook. Whatever you do, do not overcook or you will have warm potato paste instead of a salad.
• Remove from the water and let sit while prepping the marinade.
• Small dice the onion
• Whisk together the vinegar, water, oil, sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp of thyme, 1/2 tsp of parsley, and the onion.
• Let the marinade sit and slice the potatoes to about 1/4 inch slices. Next time I think I will try an egg slicer.
• Pour the marinade on top of the warm potatoes and let sit for 20-30 minutes. The volume of marinade might not cover them completely, so you might need to stir them gently. An alternative would be to place everything in a Ziploc bag and turn every 10 minutes or so.
• After 30 minutes, heat a little oil in a large saute pan on a medium heat.
• Strain the most of the marinade from the potatoes and toss the into the oil and saute for about a minute. You aren't looking for browning as much as you are to reheat the potatoes quickly. A little browning is OK, but too much and you will burn them because of the sugar in the marinade.

Serves about 6.

I'm not sure how close I came to Chef Puck's original, but it turned out terrific. I would have never thought of the re-heating technique although I do recall Good Eats doing something similar -- only Alton Brown applied the dressing while it was hot and then let it sit in the fridge to cool off.

Anyway, I really liked it. The next time I plan on cutting the onion into thin rings and adding some garlic to the marinade. What I really liked about this recipe is you can make it ahead of time and re-heat right before serving. I do plan on removing the marinade after no more than an hour of soaking because I am after a nice potato flavor, not to heavy on the vinegar. But I figure it can easily sit at room temp for a while, or the fridge until I am ready. I also intend on reheating a little more gently if they have been in the fridge.

Basmati Rice

Rice has long been a favorite dish, but the cooking has always been a challenge. Often I get starchy rice that clumps or undercooked rice that was hiding from my tasting spoon when I was checking on doneness. Ida Garten, the Barefoot Contessa, suggested this recipe and so far it's come out perfect every time! Of course it's slightly different than hers, but it really is mostly hers.

Ingredients:

• One cup of Basmati Rice
• One small onion finely diced
• 1 3/4 cups of water
• 1 Tbs of unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 tsp of kosher salt

Cooking:

• Cook the butter and onions over medium heat in a saucepan until translucent, Do not allow them to fry.
• Add the rice and toss until all of the grains are coated with the butter.
• Add the water and salt, cover and cook until the water is absorbed and the rice is tender, it should take about 15 - 20 minutes.
• Kill the heat and let it sit covered for at least 5 minutes, 10 is better. Don't be tempted to open the lid, just leave it alone.

Right now you have a great tasting dish, albeit a little plain. There are times this is exactly what I want. Now The Barefoot Contessa liked to add 1/4 cup of chopped scallions and 2 Tbs of chopped parsley. That is great, but the reality is you can put just about anything you want in here.

My preference is to tie in the flavors used in whatever main dish I am serving. For example with my Orange Marinated Flank Steak, I like using the zest of one orange. If you do something like add orange juice to the cooking liquid, or orange supremes, you will make it too 'orangey', but the zest adds a nice touch and compliments the main course. Rosemary or thyme are also great additions. A little cumin can really change the flavor and goes well with pork dishes. So what I am really saying is don't be afraid to experiment.

For example I once did a braised pork shoulder and the braising liquid was apple juice and sage. I added a small bit of diced apple and some chopped sage to a small amount of rice to check the flavor. The apple browned, which was a turn off, but the sage tasted great. So when I served the dish I had added a few sage leaves chopped fine and just a little bit of apple juice. So take a little rice and test your thoughts out before you assemble the final dish. Trust me, creativity tastes better than you might think!

Potato Lasagna

I am always looking ways to work on side dishes, especially potatoes and other starches. Here is one I haven't made in a while, but I am thinking of doing it for Thanksgiving. Actually since my wife has another project for Turkeyday morning, I get to do the whole dinner!

Ingredients

• 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled ·
• 2 large Idaho baking potatoes, peeled ·
• 2 large red skinned potatoes, skin on ·
• 1/2 cup olive oil, in a bottle, for drizzling. or to taste ·
• 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped garlic ·
• 1 cup grated Cheddar cheese (preferably yellow) ·
• 1 cup shredded Mozzarella ·
• Salt and black pepper
  

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
   
2. Oil bottom of an 8x10-inch baking dish.
   
3. Using a vegetable slicer or very sharp knife, slice sweet potatoes as thin as possible.
   
4. Slice baking and red skin potatoes as you need them, to prevent browning.
   
5. Cover bottom of dish with a layer of Idaho potato slices, slightly overlapping.
   
6. Drizzle with oil, sprinkle with garlic and cheeses and season with salt and pepper.
   
7. Top with sweet potatoes, then red skin potatoes, seasoning and sprinkling each layer.
   
8. Continue layers until all potatoes are used up, reserving enough cheese to fully cover top layer.
   
9. Cover with foil and bake until potatoes are fork tender. Remove and let sit before cutting.

I can't remember where I got this recipe, looks like something from the Food Network for some reason. In any event I plan on building it the night before so I'll let you know how it turns out.

Sweet Potato Pudding

Planning a carry-in? How would you like something sweet, easy, and can be served hot or cold? Works for me! My sweet potatoes are baking right now because I need to carry it in to the office tomorrow.

Pudding Ingredients

• 4 medium baked sweet potatoes mashed
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 cup pecan pieces
  

Topping Ingredients

1. 1/2 cup pecan pieces
2. 1/2 cup light brown sugar
3. 4 tablespoons of softened unsalted butter
   

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Grease a 1 1/2-quart baking dish.
3. With an electric mixer, beat together all the pudding ingredients until smooth and light.
4. Pour the pudding into the baking dish.
5. Mix the topping ingredients in a small bowl
   
6. Dot top of pudding mixture with the topping mixture
   
7. Transfer to the oven and bake for 45 minutes (checking after 30).

It's done when it's nice and bubbly and the center reads about 165F. I found if it's less the center doesn't set, but if I wait until a knife comes out pretty clean, the outer edge is overcooked.

Cool and then cover. Refrigerate overnight. Can be reheated before serving, or served as is.

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Update: The carry-in was today and an nearly empty dish and several recipe requests make it seem like the Sweet Potato Pudding was a success. I am usually a little disappointed about anything left in the dish, but you should have seen the pile of food. Toward the end we were inviting over offices over! We left 3/4 of a cheesecake on the table! That rarely happens. Well actually it's in the frig for tomorrow.

Roasted Potato Salad

Here is one recipe I now make several times a year. My older daughter had be bring to a pot luck and my younger daughter asked me to make it for her Christmas party. This is a recipe I call a success!

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs small red potatoes, fingerling work well also -- but avoid baking or real waxy potatoes
• 1 small bunch of spring onions, or 1 small red onion
• 3 oz ham
• 2 celery stalks
• 2 hard-boiled eggs
• 1/2 cup of frozen peas
• Mayonnaise, about 1 cup
• Mustard, 2-3 Tbs
• Mirrin (Rice Wine Vinegar), or Apple Cider Vinegar, about 1 Tbs
• Fresh Dill
  

Prepare the potatoes

1. Pre-heat oven to 350F.
2. Clean and halve the potatoes. If you have a mix of large and small ones, third or quarter the larger ones to about the same size as the halves. This keeps the cooking even.
3. Toss with some olive oil, kosher salt and black pepper.
4. Spread in one layer on a baking sheet and bake for 40 minutes, start checking after 30.
5. Once a sharp knife slides in and out easily, they are done. Pull out and put in a bowl to cool some.

While the potatoes are cooling, prep the rest

1. Chop the spring, or red, onion into small pieces
2. Dice the celery into pieces about the same size as the spring onion
3. Dice the ham
4. Coarse chop the eggs
5. Prep the dressing:

• Place the Mayo in a bowl and whisk in the Mirrin. This is less for taste as to thin out the mayo a bit and add a little acidity
• Add half the mustard and taste. Keep adding mustard until you get the taste you want. I keep going until the mustard can tasted lightly. Rule-of-thumb if the mustard smacks you in the face as opposed to kissing you on the lips -- add more mayo :-)
• Add 2 Tbs of finely chopped Dill. Add more to taste

Put it all together

1. Cut up the potatoes into quarters or sixths. You are after a bite-sized pieces.
2. Place potatoes in a large bowl
3. Add ham,. onions, celery, eggs and peas
4. Pour 3/4 of the dressing on top and gently mix. You have to be gentle or you might end up with a mashed potato salad. If you are worried about your potatoes might be a little soft, refrigerate them for 30 minutes before dressing.
   
5. Add more dressing as you mix -- if needed. It's always easier to add more than take out.

Refrigerate. It's actually better the next day.

There you have it. I have tried many variations and some went over well, other less so. For example a little sun-dried tomato or roasted red pepper was great. Chicken was a bust. Cucumbers or fresh tomato added to much liquid to the dressing. But please feel free to experiment and pass any good ideas back to me.