Tri-color Potato Salad

Potato salad: whether it's made with vinegar or mayo, I have a hard time not consuming at least a pound of it at a time. I'll shamelessly go back for seconds (maybe sneak some thirds too) whenever I can find it homemade. Truth be told, I sometimes grab a tub of the ready made stuff found in grocery delis. Yeah, it's usually too tangy and has a weird aftertaste (mmm, preservatives?). But, hey, it's potato salad and I love it.




Fresh new potatoes are one of my favorite multi-season crops in the area. For this old fashioned potato salad, I used a mix of red, yellow and purple potatoes found at the Farmer's Market. Since they all varied in size, I pre-cut them into bite sized portions before boiling. I usually like to boil the potatoes whole. But, since the size difference was so dramatic, I figured it was better to have them cut to the same size. To keep them from disintegrating too while cooking, I stole a boil and steam technique from Ina Garten. Worked like a charm and produced a less mushy potato chunk.

Don't forget to taste as you go and adjust seasonings as necessary. A good way to play with any potato salad recipe would be to change the type of mayo (like garlic flavored, olive oil based, etc), mustard, or switch out the onions with chives. Go crazy with it.

Tri Color Potato Salad

1 to 1 1/2 lbs. mix of small red, yellow, and purple potatoes
1/2 c. Mayonnaise
1 to 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/4 c. minced onions
2 tbsp whole grain mustard
1 tsp yellow mustard (for a little color)
Salt and people to taste

Cut potatoes into bite sized pieces. In a large pot, bring salted water to a boil. GENTLY with a slotted spoon, add potatoes to pot, being careful not to splash boiling water on yourself.

After the pot returns to a boil, reduce the heat to a gentle bubbling so the potatoes don't bang up against each other. This is to prevent the pre-cut pieces from disintegrating too much in the pot.

Gently boil for 6 to 10 minutes or until not-quite done. Transfer potatoes to a steamer with a lid. Sprinkle the potatoes with vinegar and steam for 10 to 15 minutes until tender.

In a large mixing bowl, add onions, mustard, and mayo. Add the cooked potatoes to the mixture. Gently fold everything together. Adjust mustard and mayonnaise to taste. Season with salt and pepper.

Serves 4 as a big heaping side dish.

In Season: Fresh Figs

The fig tree beside my garage apartment... it teases me. Everyday I walk by it's lush green foliage. In the summer, the tree produces a plethora of tiny green fruits. Tiny, green, perpetually unripe fruit. I wait for their skin to darken. But, at some point, the birds will descend. They'll be hardly any trace of them left, save for one or two strays under a leaf. I'm left with the nagging feeling that if I could protect them, I would eventually have delicious plump figs.

I've since discovered that some varieties of our localized figs never ripen. Also, neglecting to fertilize and water the trees on a regular basis can contribute to immature fruit.

So to stay at my current, comfortable level of plant neglect, I'm going to go with the theory that the garage apartment's fig tree just isn't able to bare ripened fruit. Because otherwise it's gorgeous and appears to be healthy. You know, too pretty and healthy to need anymore attention from me! Luckily, it's July and I can get fresh purple figs from the farmers market. I usually buy them from Gunderman Farms since they tend to have the biggest and plumpest. This year I've seen smaller LSU purple figs from other vendors. I bet they're tasty too.

The following is a classic way to serve figs as an appetizer or dessert. It's so easy I'm sort of embarrassed to present it as a recipe. Since it's so fast and non-fussy it's a great, elegant extra for any night of the week.

I think the savoriness of blue cheese would make this a great appetizer . Otherwise, I serve it as a dessert using plain goat cheese. My tip for for Houstonians: use Blue Heron Farm's Perfectly Plain Chevre with local honey drizzled on top. Beautiful.


Fresh Figs with Soft Cheese

4-6 large fresh figs cut in half long ways
Small log of goat cheese or a small wedge of blue cheese
Honey to drizzle

Prepare figs on a plate with cut side facing up. On each fig, add a dollop of cheese. Drizzle with honey. Serves 4 as a light dessert / appetizer

Local Flavor: Smothered Okra

Hooray for hydroponics and greenhouses. Cause that's how I scored some early summer okra. "Much maligned" is a pretty apt description of this delectable Southern summer vegetable. It gets a bad wrap for its slimy texture. But okra's sliminess can be minimized with longer cooking times. Which brings me to a recipe for Southern Louisiana style smothered okra.

The amount of vegetables called for is approximate. It's roughly equal parts okra and tomato with a bit of onion, garlic, and green bell pepper. Leftovers of smothered okra can be added to a gumbo. If I were planning for that, I'd probably add stalk or two of chopped celery with the onions and pepper. Also, you can substitute canned tomatoes for fresh.

Smothered Okra

2 c. okra, chopped
2 c. fresh tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 small or medium onion
1 large bell pepper
1-2 cloves of garlic
A few tablespoons vegetable oil
Salt

Heat oil in large pan over medium heat. Add onions and bell pepper. Saute until softened. Add garlic and saute until fragrant. Add okra and tomatoes. Stir to coat with oil, pepper, onion, and garlic mixture.

Reduce heat to simmer. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until okra reaches desired tenderness (budget on 30 minutes to an hour depending on your taste). Remove from heat and salt to taste.

Serves 4 as a side dish.

We served ours with Cajun spiced chicken thighs. Just premixed Cajun seasoning + boneless chicken thigh fillets + pan searing + saute. Easy.

Total mess

No, that's not an abandoned lot. It's my garden. My sad, neglected garden. I let it go for most of the spring. Coming home late and spending my weekends doing other stuff (like just laying around all day) didn't leave me much time to maintain it. But, I decided Wednesday morning to clean it out.

What motivated me to finally stop being lazy and get control over it? Because I'm dying for some fresh basil! I planted it too early this year. We had one last mild frost which resulted in lots of dead basil. I had planted quite a bit of them. I even had one of those new 'Perpetou' ones that never go to seed. Argh.

Since then, I've been too distracted to jump back on the gardening wagon. But, I'm feeling the need for fresh summer herbs to cook with, so I set to the task of weeding. The two big offenders making my garden an overgrown mess were a straggley dill and a now wild epazote plant. Man, does that plant produce tons of seeds! Once I pulled those guys up, it looked much better. All that remained were shallow rooted local weeds. I also got a bit of a surprise. Underneath all that dill I found a carrot growing, a remnant from my fall vegetable garden.

This weekend I'll be planting some new herbs along the side of the apartment. I'll be gabbing about them later too.

In the mean time, stay cool!

Summer Fruit and Mascarpone Tart

It's mid June in Houston and it's already too hot to bake. In fact, it's getting pretty close to too hot to cook. But luckily one of my favorite summer desserts requires very little heat to pull off. The extent of "cooking" in this recipe is the melting of butter.

The creamy mascarpone base pairs wonderfully with just about any seasonal fruit. You can make the tart with a mix of a few different fruits or just pick one kind. Both choices are awesome. I chose this combo because it features some of the local fruits currently in-season at our lovely farmer's markets.

A quick note about raw eggs: I used fresh free-range eggs from a farmer who checks his hens regularly for salmonella. When preparing this for parties ('cause I don't want to risk anyone getting sick), I've always used Eggland's Best pasteurized eggs. With the pasteurized eggs, the whites will take a lot longer (think several minutes) to form stiff peaks. So, to prevent your arm from falling off, I recommend using a stand or hand held mixer.

Adapted from Nigella Lawson's Black and White Tart from How to Be a Domestic Goddess

Summer Fruit and Mascarpone Tart

Crust:
1 c. plus a few tablespoons of crumbled graham crackers
6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Filling and topping:
1 large egg, separated
1/4 c. sugar
2 c. or 16 oz mascarpone *
Squeeze of a lime, to taste
1 tbsp tequila
1 to 2 ripe peaches, sliced
1/2 c. fresh blackberries
1/3 c. fresh blueberries

Process or blend graham crackers into fine crumbs. Combine graham crackers and melted butter. Combine until mixture's texture resembles something like dampened sand.

Sprinkle the mixture evenly onto the bottom of a 10 inch tart pan. Using your fingers, press down onto the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Keep crust in the refrigerator while you make the topping.

In a bowl or a mixer with a whisk attachment, whisk the egg white until stiff but not dry. Set aside. In another bowl, by hand or with a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, combine egg yolk and sugar. Whisk until mixture is thick and pale. Beat in mascarpone until smooth, then mix in the tequila and lime. Fold in egg whites until incorporated.

Pour mixture into prepared crust. Smooth mixture evenly in the tart pan. Arrange berries on top in whatever manner floats your boat.

Serves 8.

*Mascarpone is found in the fancy cheese section of larger supermarkets. It's sold in both 8 oz. and 9 oz. tubs. If you find two 9 oz. tubs, use two of those for a total of 18 ounces of cheese. It will make a slightly more viscous filling and still be totally delicious.

Hot tip for Houstonians: You can find good prices on mascarpone at larger HEB stores, Spec's Downtown, and Nundini's Italian grocery.

In Season: Peaches

Mmmm, fresh organic peaches from Gundermann Farm. These perfectly ripe specimens were found this morning at the Bayou City Farmer's Market. Blackberries peaches, and blueberries are 'a plenty right now.
A summer tart recipe is to follow. Stay tuned!

The Ol' First Post

Background: I grew up in a small town in North East Texas. Now, I'm living in a small garage apartment in Houston, Texas with my fiancée.

As you can imagine, living in the fourth largest city in the nation means there's always something to do around town. But for the most part, I enjoy staying home to cook, bake, garden, and homebody* it up. When I do venture out it's usually to my favorite grocery stores, farmer's markets, nurseries and resale shops.

I'd like to share what I find around town with you lovely readers. I hope this blog will be of use to those with small town or rural backgrounds who have moved to Houston (or any metroplex for that matter). Hopefully, native Houstonians will make few new discoveries too!

* My first post and I already invented a new verb. Yesss.