Potato Salad with Green and White Beans

In our CSA box yesterday we got some freshly dug red new potatoes and a nice bag of beautiful flat green beans. Green beans are always best eaten when their super fresh, so I wanted to use them quickly. We also had a fresh red onion in the fridge from an old CSA share. So, after hemming and hawing for a while, I serendipitously found the perfect recipe in Simple Suppers - Potato Salad with Greens and White Beans (scroll down) - that used all those ingredients. It is basically a nicoise salad without the tuna. I made my typical Dijon, white wine vinaigrette that I make with nicoise salads instead of the one in the recipe (Dijon, white wine vinegar, bit of sweetener (I used honey and Splenda), pinch of herbes de Provence, salt, pepper, olive oil). The dijon gives the vinaigrette a fuller flavor and helps the dressing emulsify better. I also used some parsley from the garden, in addition to the basil. We only had red kidney beans, not white, so I used those instead. There wasn't any flavor difference that I could determine. I also threw the green beans in with the potatoes for the last few minutes of cooking, rather than cooking them separately. I cannot imagine why they tell you to go through the bother of cooking them separately! We had it over lettuce with some nicoise olives on top. It was delicious.

Salmon

I made the Tequila Salmon earlier this week. Like the other recipes in this book, the marinade was easy and didn't take long to make. It was good, didn't have the wow factor of some of the other recipes, but it was definitely tasty. I liked the citrus from the orange with the fish. I really liked the dressing for the salad - I threw in some bell pepper and red onion in addition to the tomatoes and it was a nice compliment to the salmon. I also made some cornbread muffins to go along with it. I like to cook salmon since it's so easy to find and so good for you and this is a good fallback recipe. I'm still mastering cooking it on the grill though and wonder if it might have been a little less dry in the oven.

This Week's Pick

I'm not really sure when our week is starting and stopping at this point, but I'm going to make some Tequila Salmon!

Cooking/Meat Hiatus

So we had 21 people over last Saturday for a "Dining with Friends" event that raises money for Lowcountry AIDS Services. While I thoroughly enjoyed throwing the party and cooking all the food, I haven't had much initiative to cook adventurously this week. And then last week, most nights were spend preparing the house or prepping food. So, I haven't really had the energy for our CCC. And I've been in the mood to eat healthy veggie meals after ample rich food and drink.
I did make some really yummy recipes for the party, but unfortunately none were on the grill. . . Everything was fantastic though. I especially recommend the strawberry cheese mold, crostini, almonds and beans. The pork was really yummy as well, and the associated sauce recipe was so good people were pouring it on bread to eat it alone. The pork loin roast is also a very economical way to feed a lot of people!

Appetizers:

Strawberry Three Cheese Mold

Arugula and Fava-Bean Crostini

Honey-Spiced Almonds

Dinner:

Orzo with Artichokes and Pine Nuts

Asparagus, Peas, and Basil (Piselli con Asparagi e Basilico)

Tuscan Beans in Summery Tomato Ragù

Herb-Roasted Pork Loin

Indonesian Lamb Satay

Oh, shoot, I just accidentally deleted the photo and it was such a nice photo! I finally found all of the ingredients for this which took almost a week in itself. Star anise. Good, not too expensive, lamb (TJ's!). Lemongrass. And then when I started actually making it, I couldn't find the damn lemongrass. Oh well, not essential I guess. I subbed in some lemon zest. The lamb was really, really good. It was super tender and the marinade was really nice. I cut the pieces thinner than the recipe called for pretty much on accident but just cooked it for less time and they came out fine. It definitely needed a big side dish though because it wasn't that much food. Especially for Anshul. I made some spicy rice noodles to go with it, stir fried with bok choy, carrots, red pepper and a few edamame. I made up the sauce myself, taking hints from a few Indonesian noodle recipes. Some garlic and ginger at the beginning, then a sauce with 4 tbs soy sauce, 1 tbs honey, 1 tbs sambal oelek, and I think there was one more thing but I can't remember what. It was really spicy - a little too spicy for my taste, but Anshul liked it. When mixed with the peanut sauce, it was delish. The peanut sauce overall wasn't very memorable and I think there are probably better recipes out there. It was fine, just not fantastic. Anshul was a very happy hubby at the end - what could be better in life than lamb AND spicy noodles? Except maybe Kashmiri food, but his mom will be here soon to make that. I liked it a lot, though don't think it will be a regular - the lamb was really tasty but took a while to cut into strips for not that much meet.

Update on this week's recipe

It looks like we might not make it to the lamb this week. I was planning to do it tonight but Sahana was having so much fun at the park, we stayed there and skipped the grocery store before she dozed off on the way home. Anshul's working tomorrow late (i.e. I'm not cooking) and I have a Mom's Night Out on Sunday night... so next week we'll have some lamb loin.
Instead, tonight, I had to make dinner out of whatever I could find and home and I happened about this great Quinoa and Black Bean Salad. I bought Quinoa a long time back and have been meaning to try making it and what better opportunity when there isn't any other protein in the house. I was going to grill some salmon with it until Anshul called and said he was going to be going to a dinner at work. I'm okay with an all veggie meal, him less so. This salad was so good! It would be a great side salad, and excellent for lunch. I was happy with it by itself for dinner, but could also see serving it over lettuce, or with some chipotle sausages. I made the quinoa in the rice cooker with 1 cup quinoa, 2 c water. Also subbed 1 1/2 red/yellow pepper for the green and 1/2 jalepeno finely chopped for the pickled jalepeno. Forgot the red wine vinegar and didn't miss it. Threw in some diced roma tomatoes (2) and used Trader Joe's frozen grilled corn which has a great flavor.
Mmm... it was such a simple recipe, with flavors I liked, and I was expecting it to be good, but it was really, really good. The sweetness of the peppers and the corn, and the bite of the lime, and the earthiness of the beans and quinoa. So good, I just had to share.