Creamy Potato Salad

Potato salad is the obvious side for a barbecue. Sure you can buy a tub at the market, but it’s really not difficult to make at home. This recipe comes out thick and creamy. Red and green onions add color and flavor, and dill mellows out the mix.

It’s also a pretty fast recipe. The potatoes are peeled and cubed before simmering, so they cook in less than 7 minutes. It’s also great to make in advance, as the longer it sits refrigerated, the more the potatoes absorb the flavor.

Try it out. Then when your friends and neighbors come over to your next barbecue and say, “Yum! This potato salad is wonderful! Where did you buy it?”, you can smile proudly and say, “I made it myself, thank you very much!”

Creamy Potato Salad – serves 4 – 6

6 – 7 medium golden potatoes
3/4 C mayonnaise
2 t apple cider vinegar
1/2 C red onion, diced
3 T green onion, finely chopped
1 T dried dill
1 t sugar
salt to taste

Peel the potatoes and cut into small cubes, about 1/2 inches wide. Drop into salted, boiling water, lower heat to and allow to simmer for 5 – 7 minutes. Take one out, allow it to cool and test to make sure the potato is cooked. They should be just soft enough for a knife to come out easily, but not smooshy. Drain in a colander and rinse with cold water. Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes until cool.

Meanwhile, combine mayonnaise, vinegar, onions, dill and sugar in a large bowl. Add potatoes. Mix gently to avoid crushing the potatoes.

Transfer to a serving dish, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Avocadango Walnut Salad

As you know, avocados and mangoes are not native to New England, so this post kind of flies in the face of my whole local theme, but oh well. It’s winter in New England. Fruit must come from somewhere and mangoes and avocados are among my favorites.

I devised this salad a few years ago when I was on a bit of a pine nut kick. I’ve since decided to cool it on the pine nuts until more information comes out about “pine nut-associated cacogeusia” – a disorder that came to light last winter that causes some people to experience a metallic taste in their mouth for up to two weeks after eating some pine nuts. It’s yet undetermined which pine nuts cause the disorder. That’s scary stuff and I’d rather not take any risks. I now make this salad with walnuts and the soft texture works just as well.

Refreshing, sweet mango and creamy avocado offset the greens’ coy bitterness and the walnuts bring texture. In addition being absolutely ambrosial, this salad is so absurdly nutritious, it’s radicchio. Walnuts are rich in omega-3, avocados contain plenty of potassium and vitamins B6 and K, mango is heavy on vitamins A and C, and greens offer a good source of folate.

And yes, I’m taking poetic license with the name.

Avocadango Walnut Salad – serves 2

1 mango
1 avocado
1 T lemon juice
1/3 C walnuts
5 ounces mixed baby salad greens (arugula, spinach, radicchio, etc)
2 T olive oil
2 T balsamic vinegar

Peel the mango and cut into 1 inch cubes.

Halve the avocado, remove pit and scoop either side from its shell. Cut into 1 inch cubes and toss with lemon juice.

Using tongs, in a large serving bowl (or whatever, it’s your kitchen) toss the salad greens with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Add the avocado, mango and walnuts, being careful to not squish the avocado or allow the walnuts to gather at the bottom.

Ingredient origins: Organic mango – Chile; Organic avocado – Mexico; Organic lemon – Florida; Walnuts – California; Organic salad greens – Maine; Olive oil – Italy; Balsamic vinegar – Italy. I know. The whole local thing was completely thrown out the window for this recipe, but all of my readers in sunny California would be able to pull it off in good locavore fashion!

Panko Fried Hake with Spinach Avocado Salad

Thursday was fish share night and we got a big, headless, gutted hake. There was a lot of meat on this one. My husband once again, kindly filleted it. The fish yielded six large servings. I cut the excess into fillets, oiled them, put them into zip-top bags and stored them in the freezer for later use. I also made a lovely fish stock from the bones, fins and other fish parts and vegetable trimmings we had storing in the freezer.

With the remaining two hake servings, I made lovely panko fried fillets to go with a salad of spinach, avocado and sun-dried tomatoes. It was a luscious little contradiction of a meal. I’m categorizing this under “Regional Cuisine” despite the use of avocado and panko, because fried fish with any type of breading is as ubiquitous as clam chowder on the New England Coastline.

Panko Fried Hake – Serves 2

2 fillets of hake
1 egg
1 T water
1 1/2 C panko crumbs *
1 t salt
oil to cover the bottom of pot, 1 inch deep

Heat oil to 360 degrees in a heavy pot if on stove top. Or, if you’re all fancy-pants and have a fryer, go that route. It’s safer than having a big pot of scalding oil on the stove. I use my trusty cast iron pot because it seems less likely to spontaneously flip off of the stove than a stainless steel stockpot. If you’re using a pot, be sure to use a thermometer and adjust the burner, making sure not to let the temperature get below 300, under which the breading will absorb too much oil.

Beat egg with water in a large bowl.

Mix panko crumbs with salt in a large, deep dish.

Dry the fish pieces with a paper towel. Dip fillet in the egg mixture and allow all excess egg to drip off before dredging in panko crumbs. Here’s my trick with frying breaded things – you want the dry stuff (breading) to soak up the wet stuff (egg, milk or batter) where they meet on the surface of whatever you’re cooking. This helps the breading stick and not peel off as it fries. Press the crumbs into the fish and let it soak in a for about 10 seconds until you feel a little moisture on your hand. Flip it over and do the same. Once it’s breaded, try not to move it around too much. Repeat with the second fillet.

Gently slide the fillets into the hot oil. Keep an eye on the thermometer. Cook on one side for 4 minutes. Using tongs, flip and cook another 4 minutes.

Remove fish from oil and drain on paper towels.

Spinach Avocado Salad - serves 2

2 C baby spinach
1 T olive oil
1 T white wine vinegar
2 T sun-dried tomatoes, diced *
1 avocado, peeled and sliced *

Toss spinach with oil, vinegar and sun-dried tomatoes. Divide in half and plate. Top with avocados.

* A note on ingredient origin: The avocados were obviously not local, but they were organic. So at least it fit some of my criteria. The panko crumbs were purchased in bulk from a local natural food store. Minimally processed (or at least fewer than 5 ingredients), but the label only said that name of the store, and not it’s origin. That bugs me, but what bugs me more is that I didn’t ask. Not a huge deal. The sun-dried tomatoes were also minimally processed and imported from Italy by a local distributor as was the olive oil and the canola oil used for frying supposedly comes from US and Canada. Can’t win ‘em all, but I do try to keep things at least 90% local, organic or minimally processed. Everything else used in this meal (and all posts) are made within 200 miles unless otherwise noted in a gripe section like this one.

Tarragon Pollock with Herbed Figs

We are members of a CSF – Community Supported Fishery. It’s similar to a CSA, but instead of produce, it’s fish that comes fresh from the ocean that morning. Whatever is caught is what we get. Today’s catch was pollock.

This dish is similar to meuniere, except I added fresh tarragon to the butter. Tarragon gives the pollock a delicate, earthy flavor. The thyme and rosemary lend savory undertones to the figs, keep them from being too sweet. Overall, the fish and figs combined offered a good balance of flavor.

I served it with a simple salad of Boston lettuce, which was dressed with olive oil, brown rice vinegar and freshly ground salt and pepper.

Pan-Seared Pollock - serves 2

3/4 – 1 lb of Pollock, filleted with the skin on
1 T fresh tarragon, chopped
2 T butter
1/4 C flour
1/2 t salt

Cut the fillet in half, dry it off with a paper towel and dredge it in salt and flour for a light coat. Melt butter in a large skillet until it foams. Add tarragon and swirl to infuse the butter, 15- 30 seconds. Do not let it brown. Place fillets in pan, skin side up and cook on medium high heat for 3 minutes. Turn fillets carefully, cook 6 minutes. If the fish is not cooked through, cover and cook another 3 minutes.

Herbed Figs - serves 2

6 ripe fresh figs, halved
2 T butter
1 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped
1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped

Melt butter over medium heat in small skillet until it foams. Add herbs and swirl to infuse the butter. Place figs cut side down in pan. When butter and juices begin to bubble, turn heat down to low and allow to cook slowly for 15 minutes, turning once or twice. This can be done while the fish cooks.

Boston Lettuce Salad - serves 2

1/2 head of Boston lettuce
drizzle of olive oil
drizzle of brown rice vinegar
2 grinds of salt
2 grinds of pepper

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Turn using tongs until leaves are coated. Divide into two bowls and serve.

Ingredient Origins: Pollock – Fresh from the waters outside our door; Tarragon – Massachusetts, Butter – Maine; Flour – Vermont; Salt – Maine; Figs – California; Rosemary and thyme – Massachusetts; Boston lettuce – Massachusetts; Olive oil – Italy; Brown rice vinegar – California; Pepper – India