Roasted New Potato Salad

The sun is shining, and although the temperatures are cool, I am in full summer mode. So when trying to decide on a side for dinner tonight, potato salad popped into my brain. This potato salad can be served warm or cold and has a generous amount of vegetables in it. I usually wing it on the amounts but I was diligent today and weighed everything as I went.

Roasted New Potato Salad

500g nugget potatoes, cut bite-sized
150g cherry tomatoes, halved
90g green beans, blanched
70g pitted kalamata olives, rough chopped
30 ml apple cider vinegar
60ml olive oil
15ml dijon mustard
herbs

Preheat the oven to 400F. Toss potatoes in a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast for 20 - 30 minutes.
Chop your herbs - I used parsley, oregano and chives from my garden. Combine all. May be served warm or chilled.

The best zucchini I ever ate...

Granted, I have always nurtured a strong dislike for zucchini, so saying this recipe is "the best zucchini I ever ate" smacks of damning with faint praise. I promise you, this is REALLY good. I found the recipe on Epicurious, so in keeping with tradition, an *Epicurious Review is necessary....

"This recipe is really tasty. I added pine nuts and remove the green onion from the recipe. Also, I made my own ricotta recipe. And didn't use any of the measurements in the recipe."

In all seriousness, no recipe is required here. Slice zucchini super thin with a mandolin (I prefer the cheap Japanese Benriner).  Lay out the zucchini slices. Drizzle with olive oil and fresh lemon juice. Season with a little salt and pepper. Finely chiffonade some basil and sprinkle over top. I then popped it in the fridge and let it marinate for an hour. Finish with Pine nuts and ricotta scattered evenly over the top.

I do have a recipe for the ricotta. It is the one my coworker, a fabulous Greek lady, gave me.

Fresh Ricotta

1l milk
1 tbsp vinegar

Gently bring milk to a boil. Stir in vinegar, simmer for a couple minutes, then remove from heat. Strain through a cheesecloth.

Best served fresh out of the strainer!

 *An Epicurious Review is one that reviews the recipe, but has so many modifications that the original recipe is lost. Millions of examples of this can be found on Epicurious.com

New potatoes with thyme and black pepper

In the vein of "simple is good", here is one of my favorite ways to eat nugget potatoes.
Toss hot cooked potatoes with olive oil or butter, salt, cracked black pepper, and fresh thyme.
I served the potatoes with steamed broccoli and chicken with chimichurri.

Bubble and Squeak part II

 

A couple weeks ago, I was playing with bubble and squeak and I felt like my technique needed a little refinement. Plus, Rob was loving it and insisted I make it again. Last night we had it with lamb and spinach meatloaf and green beans.
I can't really write a recipe; I think the nature of Bubble and Squeak is that it changes every time you make it.
Last night I cooked red potatoes, turnip and brussels sprouts till they were tender, mashed together and added lots of salt and pepper. I heated a cast iron skillet over medium to medium low heat, lubricated with duck fat and added my mash. I flipped and stirred every ten minutes or so until the mash was all crunchy caramelised bits...

Joint Effort

 

A rare occurrence yesterday... Rob and I were both home from work at a decent hour, so we prepared dinner together. Rob cooked a couple of perfect filet mignons, and suggested a fennel salad. I made a barley risotto and prepared the salad. Crisp fennel, baby greens, olive oil, salt and a delicious honey vanilla balsamic courtesy of Mindy ~ delicious. And Rob absolutely loved the barley risotto.

I didn't have chicken stock, so added flavour with bacon.



Barley Risotto
4 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup diced uncooked bacon
1/4 cup finely chopped green onion
1 cup pearl barley
1/4 cup white wine
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
juice of half a lemon
1/8 cup grated parmesan
salt and pepper

Bring water to boil. Remove from heat, cover and set aside.

Sweat bacon in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and sauté 2 minutes. Add barley and season; cook for 3 or 4 minutes, then add white wine. Once white wine has been absorbed, add water a bit at a time, stirring after each addition. this will take 40-45 minutes.
Stir in parsley, parmesan and lemon juice. Serve

Sunchokes

 

Sunchokes, or Jerusalem artichokes, are one of my favourite little tubers. I know they have been done to death, but I just love the way they taste and I picked some up at the Farmer's Market. Last night, I was not feeling the cooking vibe, but I did it anyway, preparing garlicky lamb chops with a red wine sauce, green beans and a sunchoke and yam gratin. Rob raved about it and, very sweetly, thanked me a million times over for making him dinner every night at such an "ungodly hour" (he gets off work at 9 pm. I get off at two.)

Please bear with me, the recipe is in rough development, but here it is.

Sunchoke and Yam Gratin

1 small yam, peeled, sliced thin
Sunchokes, enough to yield 2 cups, thinly sliced.
1 cup cream
bay leaf
salt
peppercorns
pinch of lavender

Simmer cream with salt, pepper, bay leaves and lavender for 10 minutes. Strain off herbs and pour over yams and sunchokes. Layer in a small ovenproof pot, than bake for 20-25 minutes.
Serves 4 (Or two if one of them is my boyfriend).