Get Cooking: 150 Simple Recipes to Get You Started in the Kitchen (12 page)

potato salad, basic and beyond

Makes 4 servings (possibly more, if you add a lot from the
get creative
list)

T
his is a very, very basic recipe. The salad tastes great in its pure form, and I’ve given you many ideas to spruce it up. The best potatoes for this are the waxy varieties (Yukon Gold, Yellow Finn, small red “creamers”). A combination of colors is guaranteed to be beautiful. You can even use red, white, and blue potatoes for a Fourth of July picnic. Peeling is easiest after the potatoes are cooked. Even easier is
not
peeling, which adds flavor, color, and nutrients. This salad needs time to chill completely, so you might want to make it a day ahead.

1.
Put a medium-sized pot of cold water over high heat, add a teaspoon of salt, and bring to a boil. Place a colander in the sink. When the water boils, turn the heat down to low, add the potatoes, and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, or until very tender (easily pierced with the tip of a sharp knife—you don’t want the potatoes to be at all crunchy). Drain them in the colander, and then dry them by patting them with paper towels or a clean, dry dish towel.

2.
While the potatoes are simmering, whisk together the mayonnaise, yogurt, salt, and pepper in a medium-large bowl. Add the onion, and mix well.

3.
When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, you can peel and discard the skins (use your fingers or a sharp knife) or leave the skins on (especially if you want the red of red potatoes, since their insides are white). Cut the potatoes into 1-inch chunks, and transfer them to the bowl containing the other ingredients. Toss gently until everything is well combined, then cover the bowl tightly and chill until cold.

4.
If the potatoes seem to have soaked up too much of the dressing while chilling, add a tablespoon more each of the mayonnaise and the yogurt. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper, if needed, and serve.

mostly classic cole slaw

Makes 6 to 8 servings

M
ostly” refers to the non-classic addition of yogurt, which has become standard in my repertoire. Cole slaw is always best if made at least a day ahead, packed into a container with a tight-fitting lid, and refrigerated until serving time. Given this melding time, the cabbage softens and packs down, and all the flavors bond and unify as a team. This will keep for up to a week in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator. To save time, you can buy pre-shredded cole slaw mix in a bag.

1.
Combine the cabbage, carrot, and onion in a very large bowl. Sprinkle with the salt, toss to combine, and set aside.

2.
In a second, smaller bowl, combine the oil, vinegar, mayonnaise, yogurt, and 1 tablespoon of the sweetener, and whisk until smooth. Pour this into the cabbage mixture, and toss to mix well. Taste to see if it’s sweet enough for you, and if not, add the other tablespoon of sweetener. Transfer to a container with a tight-fitting lid, cover, and refrigerate. (It will pack down quite a bit.) Serve cold.

GET CREATIVE

• Add a pinch of celery seed (old-fashioned, and really nice here; buy a small jar just to use for cole slaw).
  
• Add up to 2 cups chopped pineapple—either fresh or canned (packed in water or juice), drained.
  
• Add up to ½ cup dried cranberries or ¼ cup minced fresh cranberries.
  
• Slice a Bosc pear (the crunchy brown kind), drizzle it with a little lemon juice, and gently mix it in just before serving.
  
• Top the slaw with up to 1 cup chopped roasted peanuts or toasted walnuts.
  
• Substitute packaged broccoli slaw for some or all of the cabbage.
  
• For a richer dressing, substitute sour cream for some of the mayonnaise or yogurt.
  
• Garnish with lemon wedges for squeezing on at the table.
  
• In addition to serving this as a side, try packing it into your favorite sandwich.
  

caesar salad with its own from-scratch dressing

Makes 2 to 3 large dinner-sized salads, or 4 to 6 smaller side salads

T
oo many restaurants serve mediocre Caesar salads, and that’s a shame. This homemade version, with just the right amount of scratch-made dressing lightly coating crisp romaine and croutons made from a real baguette, can go head to head with any restaurant or bottled-dressing Caesar.

This recipe calls for 1 pound of romaine lettuce. If you’re buying hearts of romaine (they come packaged, with the larger outer leaves already removed), buy a pound and use it all. But if you’re buying the entire head, try to get one that weighs slightly more than a pound, so you will have a pound left after removing any imperfect outer leaves.

Coarsely shredded Parmesan works better here than the fine, powdery stuff. If you’re making your own croutons, simply follow the recipe on Chapter 1: Soups, omitting the cheese (or replacing it with Parmesan). You can prepare the croutons a few hours (and up to a day) ahead and store them in a sealed plastic bag or a tightly lidded container.

You can make the dressing up to 3 days ahead of time, and store it in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator. For best results, put the salad together just before serving.

caesar dressing

salad

1.
To make the dressing, combine the lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, garlic, salt, and Parmesan in a bowl (a small one if you are making the dressing ahead of time, or the salad bowl itself if you are making this just before serving). Whisk until thoroughly combined, then continue whisking as you drizzle in the olive oil. When all the olive oil is incorporated, stir in the mayonnaise until completely blended.

2.
Separate the romaine leaves, and then wash them in very cold water and spin them very dry. (If you have purchased hearts of romaine in a sealed pack, you can skip the washing; just cut off the stems and separate the leaves.)

3.
Shortly before serving, transfer the entire batch of dressing to the salad bowl (a wide, shallow one works very well for this). Break or cut the romaine leaves into bite-sized pieces, and add them to the dressing in the bowl. Begin turning the leaves with salad servers or tongs, sprinkling in the Parmesan cheese as you turn. The leaves will begin to get coated with the dressing. When they are mostly coated, grind in a generous amount of black pepper, then continue turning until everything is nicely combined. Toss in the croutons at the very end, and serve.

greek salad with oregano-laced vinaigrette

Makes 2 to 3 large dinner-sized salads, or 4 to 6 smaller side salads

T
he quintessential Greek salad: fresh greens tossed with Greek olives, onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and feta cheese, in a delicious vinaigrette. The salad greens can be a packaged salad mix or your favorite lettuces—on their own or combined with baby spinach leaves and some arugula. Spinach fans, try this with all baby spinach leaves. The dressing keeps for weeks in a tightly lidded jar in the refrigerator and is wonderful on any kind of cooked vegetables, especially broccoli and green beans.