beet salad

alright, stop it. this salad is good, i promise. and it's simple! so chop two large beets in half, salt the cut sides, and put them in a foil packet. bake at 350 for two hours. (less time might do it, but i ended up with crunchy beets once, and now i'm paranoid) let them cool, but not all the way to cold. in a mixing bowl combine two table spoons red wine vinegar, one teaspoon sugar, 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin, 1/4 cup olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. cut the peel from two medium sweet oranges, cut them in half, then slice them fairly thin. slice half a large red onion and toss the onion and orange slices in the dressing. peel the beets and slice thinly (about the same as the oranges, see?) then add the beets to the onion/dressing/orange mix and toss it all together. let it sit for a little while, covered, before serving. it's tangy, sweet, and sharp. the oranges are really nice with the beets and the cumin adds a bit of warmth. to state the obvious, this is nothing like the nasty pickled shoe string beets you hated as a child. as a bonus it's absolutely beautiful too!

potato salad, the method, the way of life

am i silly? surely. but consider this: what better way to show your affection and love for friends and family as a cook than to prepare dishes that take a day, two, or even three to be at their peak flavor? that shows deliberate care, a plan a head of time to make someone happy. even with such a basic thing as potato salad. this culture, in my humble opinion, is too much enamored of the quick fix. food is love, and fast food is a bad relationship. 30 minute meals? sure, a nice date, but no one to take home to mom. a brisket that takes 9 hours in the oven? true love. stew meticulously layered with flavor on flavor and gently simmered to perfection? well. potato salad not thrown together in a steamy hour of haphazard culinocity, but thoughtfully constructed with enough time to develop personality? the one you want your best friend to meet. so. what is the method? and how can it truly be as easy as i claim i insist my cooking to be? simple. take your average russet potato, cut it into thirds. give 5 or so of it's friends similar treatment, boil them until just tender, drain and refrigerate over night. the next day, peel with a small paring knife the majority of the skin from all the potatoes, cut into smaller pieces, season with garlic salt, black pepper, and a bit of celery seed or celery salt. in a separate bowl combine chopped onion, celery, and bell pepper according to taste. now for the dressing, i like to experiment depending on what i'm serving and what kind of mood i'm in. last night we had a bit of mayo, sour cream, dijon mustard, capers, and fresh chopped basil. usually it's mayo, mustard, dill pickle relish and olives. the basic idea is to mix it up until it's not glopy but not dry, gently folding in your potatoes so they don't completely fall apart. put in a glass bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let sit overnight in the fridge for the best flavor. don't go crazy with the salt the first day, because it will all come out of hiding the second day, believe me. and so, a simple easy side dish, prepared with care, becomes a monumental demonstration of love.

gravy, the beverage of the gods....

yes, i said beverage and i meant it. good gravy is so easy and yet so hard to find it's a treat when you get it. once you've got the knack, you'll never stand for canned gravy again. i use flour and make a roux with butter or grease from whatever meat i'm cooking. okay, yes, keep your pants on, i use grease. about a tablespoon to cook the flour in, and that's it. for a decent amount of gravy, to feed five or six people (normal people, not my family) use equal parts fat to flour, roughly a table spoon of each. cook some onions over medium heat until they're brown in the fat, then add the flour and a pinch of salt and pepper and cook that until it's brown, stirring frequently. add about two cups of broth, slowly, whisking as you go. the goal is to get all the tasty brown bits from the bottom of the pan and beat the lumps of roux to death so you get a nice smooth result. bring it to a simmer and let it cook down stirring often to be sure that the lumps don't come back. it won't look very thick right now, don't panic. it will need to simmer for probably 30 minutes, just keep whisking and scraping the bottom and sides of the pan. as it cools it will thicken a bit more and unfortunately develop a skin on the top if you don't cover it, so either put it in a warmed gravy boat and cover with plastic wrap or leave it in the pot till the last minute.

tomato bread salad

for years i've been ignoring a multitude of variations on the same recipe. the one where you take stale bread and toss it with juicy tomatoes and call it salad. "don't you know stale=bad?" i'd rail while countless cooking shows and grocery store displays tried to sell me on it. well. last night i caved. i had the end of a loaf of french bread from the market and several tomatoes from the garden and one cucumber, but no lettuce. hmmm. we've all heard this story before, i used what i had at hand and.... hit a homer with the family. and myself, i might add. so, cut the stale bread (not as easy as it sounds, i know) into large cubes, one inch or so, put them in a bowl and drizzle with olive oil. chop in large chunks your tomatoes and cucumbers, mix them in a separate bowl. salt and pepper to taste. this two bowl process is important because while i wanted the oil to be on the bread, and the bread to soak up the tomato juice, i didn't want the oil to ruin the fresh taste of my tomatoes. olive oil on tomatoes is all fine and well, but it's not what i was going for here. once the oil has soaked into the bread and the salt has drawn a good bit of juice from the tomatoes combine them and stir, let the salad sit about 30 minutes before you serve it stirring occasionally so that all the bread has a chance to soak up the juices. enjoy!

tabbouleh quinoa a la cottage

here's a quickie for you. juice one lemon, chop one handful of parsley, mince two raw cloves of garlic, dice one large cucumber, dice two tomatoes, slice three whole green onions, combine in a bowl and refrigerate. prepare quinoa (one cup seeds, two cups water. bring to a boil then simmer for 16 minutes on low) and cool. stir quinoa into veggies once it has cooled with enough olive oil to keep it from being dry, be generous with the olive oil. salt and pepper to taste.