All-American potato salad

By Eliza

Shortly after coming to this country, one of the things that caught my attention was the world of deli salads—tuna, chicken, egg, coleslaw, pasta, shrimp, potato, you name it—all in two, sometimes three different styles. I’ve come to love almost all of them, specially at that not-yet-lunch hour packed tightly between two slices of toasted rye bread—ah, so flavorful and so fulfilling! My favorite though is potato salad, the all-American way. Here's the recipe for the salad I brought to our al-fresco dinner on Saturday.

Ingredients

1 lbs of new golden potatoes, cooked
½ lb of new rosette potatoes, cooked
2 teaspoons kosher salt or to taste
1 cup sour cream
1/3 cup thick plain yogurt
½ cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoons olive oil
Juice of one lime
8 sprigs fresh dill
8 sprigs flat parsley
2 shallots
A pinch of freshly ground pepper



Prepare the salad

1. Peel off the skin from the golden potatoes. Leave the rosettes as are for color. Cut all potatoes in quarters and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with one teaspoon salt. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and set aside.


2. In a big bowl, mix in the sour cream, yogurt, mayonnaise and mustard. Stir in the vinegar, lime and remaining salt. Chop the dill and parsley finely. Finely dice the shallots and add herbs and shallot to the cream mix. Incorporate the potatoes, sprinkle the pepper on top and mix gently until all potatoes are generously covered with the cream. Serve or store in a tight container for up to three days.


Serves 6

Photos from Ladies of the Knife guest night

Here are some of the photos from Saturday night that came off of my camera and from Warren. Amazing night .... send me any photos that you took and we can add them to the blog for all of enjoy!

Olive Puffs by Martha

I served these Olive Puffs on Saturday night and everyone seemed to enjoy them. Here's a version of a recipe that I saw Michel Roux demo on Martha Stewart. I tried very hard to make the "olive straws", but that was was beyond my capabilities, so I settled for slicing the olives in halves instead of 1/4 inch lines and offering 1/2 puff pastry olive as a serving. I found that the pastry actually worked better withour the flour and egg that Martha Stewart suggests below. The only other thing different in the preparation was that instead of being in the oven for 5 minutes, it took about 15 minutes for the puff pastry to brown. You can find a photo of the "olive straws" at the following link:

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/olive-straws?autonomy_kw=Michel Roux&rsc=header_3

Makes 12
All-purpose flour, for work surface

13 ounces puff pastry
15 large green pimento stuffed olives, about 1 1/4 inches long
1 medium egg yolk
1 tablespoon milk

On a lightly floured work surface, roll out puff pastry to a 12 1/2-by-6-inch rectangle, about 1/8-inch thick. Using a large sharp knife, cut the rectangle into a 5 1/2-by-6-inch rectangle and a 7-by-6-inch rectangle. Place both rectangles on a baking sheet and transfer to refrigerator; let chill 20 minutes.

Place the 5 1/2-by-6-inch rectangle on a baking sheet. Place 5 olives, end-to-end, in a straight line along the short side of the rectangle, leaving about a 5/8-inch border. Repeat process two more times to make three lines of olives. In a small bowl, whisk together egg yolk and milk. Brush egg mixture on all exposed spaces between olives. Cover with the 7-by-6-inch rectangle of puff pastry, pressing the whole surface of the dough between the olives firmly with your fingertips. Transfer to refrigerator; let chill 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Using a very sharp knife, trim edges of dough; cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-wide straws. Lay flat-side down on a baking sheet. Transfer to oven and bake until pastry is golden and crisp, 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer straws to a wire rack to cool slightly. Serve warm.

July 18th Spouses and Guests Night

Here's the food list for our July 18 ALL-AMERICAN EVENING BARBECUE where we have invited spouses and/or guests. We'll have a total of 12, maybe 13 people.

I'd like to change the time to 7 PM, which will give Mother Earth a few more minutes to cool down since we'll be in the backyard. Nancy has offered to start the evening off with gin/vodka tonics and if everyone else could plan to contribute 2 bottles of red wine, we should be covered.

Notice that Nancy and I both have guests ... Ed Wheeless and Warren Eng will be joining us. Bonnie will not!

Ingrid is in Michigan all week and will let me know tomorrow if she's getting home early enough on Saturday to make it.

Here's the food list:

finger-food appetizer -- Monica
dip and chips -- Nancy
potato salad -- Eliza
Pasta dish -- Janet
Tomato and green beans (to be picked that day from my garden)-- Martha
Steaks - to be purchased by Martha
Spinach bake -- Nancy's guest
Blueberry cobbler -- Vicki
Peach Pie -- Martha's guest
Ice Cream -- Nancy and Martha

Fish Cakes for Dessert by Martha

With Susan's "Gifts from the Sea" theme for our June meeting, it was a challenge to come up with a seafood-based dessert. I borrowed the cake recipe from Nick Malgieri's "A Baker's Tour" cookbook and adapted the decorations to fit our theme. The recipe was a little complex, and I must have read it about ten times to make sure I had it right. It's not a recipe for the faint hearted baker. But I would bake it again. It comes out like a cannoli in a cake form!

Ricotta-Filled Cake from Sicily

For the Pan di spagna
2/3 c all purpose flour
1/2 c cornstarch
5 large eggs, separated
1 c sugar
2 t vanilla extract
pinch of salt

For the Rum Syrup
1/3 c water
1/3 c sugar
1/4 c white rum

For the Ricotta Filing
2-1/2 pounds whole-milk ricotta
2 c confectioner's sugar
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 t ground cinnamon
4 oz. semisweet chocolate, cut into 1/8" pieces

For the Almond Paste Decoration
8 oz. almond paste
3 c confectioners sugar
green food coloring
5 tbsp. light corn syrup

10" round pan, 2" deep, buttered and the bottom lined with a disk of buttered parchment or wax paper. (If your baking pan is only 1-1/2" high, add a parchment collar.
10" sloping-sided pie pan lines with plastic wrap

1. Set a rack in the middle of the over and preheat to 350.
2. Stir the flour and cornstarch in a small bowl and set aside.
3. Place egg yolks in the bowl of an electric mixer with 1/2 c. sugar and the vanilla. Whisk by hand. place the bowl on the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip on medium speed until very light in color, about 3 - 4 minutes. If you have only one mixer bowl, scrape the mixture into a medium bowl and wash the mixer bowl with hot soapy water, then rinse and dry.
4. In the clean, dry mixer bowl, combine the egg whites and salt. Whip by machine with the whisk attachment on medium speed until the egg whites are white, opaque, and beginning to hold their shape. Increase speed to medium-high and add the remaining 1/2 c. sugar in a slow stream, continuing to whip the egg whites until they hold a firm peak.
5. Use a large rubber spatula to fold the yolks into the whites, then sift about a third of the flour and cornstarch mixture over the egg foam and fold it in. Repeat with the second and last thirds of the flour mixture, folding each time.
6. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake the pan di Spagna until it is well risen, well colored and firm, and a toothpick inserted in the center emerges dry, about 30 - 40 minutes.
7. Immediately unmold the cake onto a rack, removing the paper on the bottom of the cake. Place another rack against the bottom and invert. Remove the top rack so that the cake cools right side up. Cool the cake immediately.
8. For the rum syrup, place water and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar. Remove from heat and cool. Stir in the rum
9. For the ricotta filling, gently stir the ricotta in a large mixing bowl with a rubber spatula, just until it is smooth. Gently stir in the confectioners sugar. Do not beat the mixture or it will liquify. Stir in the vanilla and cinnamon. Remove about 1/2 of the ricotta mixture and set aside for finishing.
10. Out the chopped chocolate in a small strainer and shake to sift away any very fine chocolate dust which would color the filling. Stir in the larger pieces of chocolate remaining in the strainer into the large bowl of ricotta filling (not the 1/2 cup).
11. To assemble the cassata, use a long, serrated knife to cut the pan di Spagna into 1/4 inch wide vertical slices. Line the prepared pie pan completely -- bottom and sides -- with cake. Sprinkle the cake slices with about a third of the run syrup and about half the ricotta filling with the chocolate bites in the lined pan. Arrange a layer of cake slices over the filling and sprinkle with another third of the syrup, then spread the remaining filling over the cake slices. Top with more slices of cake, but don't moisten them. (Once the cassata is inverted, this will be the bottom.)
12. Give a good press to the top layer of the cake with the palm of your hand and wrap the cassata in plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight to set.
13. While the cassata is chilling, make the almond paste. Combing the almond paste and sugar in a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Add 3 - 4 drops of green food coloring and pulse until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add the corn syrup and pulse until the mixture is about to form a ball. Scrape the almond paste from the food processor to a surface lightly dusted with confectioners sugar and knead it until smooth, making sure that the coloring is evenly distributed throughout. Wrap in plastic wrap and store at room temperature until needed.
14. To finish the cassata, unwrap it and place a platter over the pie pan. Invert the whole stack onto the platter and life off the pie pan, leaving the cassata on the platter. Use a brush to moisten the outside of the cassata with the remaining syrup. Spread the reserved ricotta mixture without the chocolate bits over the outside.
15. Roll the almond paste thinly on a surface dusted with cornstarch and drape it over the cassata. Trim away any excess almond past at the base of the cake. Use the scraps of almond paste to make a twisted rope to finish the bottom of the cake. Decorate the top of the cake with candied fruit in a symmetrical pattern.

Cover and refrigerate until service time. Wrap and refrigerate leftovers.

Shellfish Watermelon Ceviche from Vicki

Makes 6 servings

1 orange
½ cup orange juice
¼ cup fresh lime juice
½ cup diced seeded watermelon
½ teaspoon grated fresh ginger
2 T. finely diced red onion
2-3 teaspoons finely chopped jalapeno pepper
½ teaspoon slat
¼ lb. sea scallops, cut into ½” pieces
¼ lb. large shrimp, peeled and deveined and cut into ½” pieces
¼ lb. cooked lobster meat, cut into ½” pieces
1-2 T. chopped fresh mint


Cut, peel and remove pith from the orange and cut into segments. Chop each segment into pieces.

Stir together the chopped orange, orange juice, lime juice, watermelon, ginger, onion, jalapeno and salt.

Bring a 1-quart saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add scallops. Reduce the heat to a slow simmer and poach about 1 minute. Remove with a slotted spoon to an ice bath. Return the same water to a boil and poach the shrimp the same way. Again, drain the shrimp and place in an ice bath, then drain both the scallops and shrimp and pat dry.

Add the scallops, shrimp, lobster and mint to the watermelon mixture and toss, season with salt and chill

Traditional Ceviche from Vicki

Seafood stew from Nancy

Seafood appetizers from Monica

Seafood appetizers from Janet