Potato Salad Heaven!

Potato Salad!  What could be better to start off the holiday week-end than Potato Salad? A Daring Cook challenge to come up with a new, better, BEST, healthy potato salad recipe that's what. Of course, almost everyone's Mama or Granmama has the best recipe already. So off with the Chef's hats and on with the thinking caps.What is it about potato salad that we all love so much? How can we make that different, but healthy and still good? The Distracted Cook decided to sit down and study this question before grabbing the potatoes out of the pantry.

Jami Sorrento was our June Daring Cooks hostess and she chose to challenge us to celebrate the humble spud by making a delicious and healthy potato salad. The Daring Cooks Potato Salad Challenge was sponsored by the nice people at the United States Potato Board, who awarded prizes to the top 3 most creative and healthy potato salads. A medium-size (5.3 ounce) potato has 110 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no sodium and includes nearly half your daily value of vitamin C and has more potassium than a banana!  

So first things first - what about the potato? We'll worry about the salad part later. A trip to the farmers marketomorrow will be the first step in rounding up a good assortment of potatoes for this experimental salad. Hmm....maybe even some sweet potato can go in here. Or mashed potato? or French fried potatoes? Really, the sky is the limit. Maybe we can try  few different versions of potato salad and have a family taste-off to see which one wins. 

Into the pot go the potatoes - I ended up using "new" potatoes because I like the way they work best. No peeling, no cutting up, just toss them into the water! Now I know why the professional photographers tell us not to try to shoot something with steam! But you get the idea --- potatoes in a pot of hot water just waiting to be tipped out and drained, like this:

Did you notice that ear of corn in there? While thinking about a "new" potato salad,  I thought about a salad that would have all the best Spring things in it. What could be better than a Crawfish Boil Potato Salad that incorporates all the great things we eat at a crawfish boil? So into the pot for the potatoes went some Crab Boil which is what we use to boil crawfish. Crawfish boil is a mixture of ground black,tabasco and cayenne peppers and other strong spices. When we boil the crawfish we almost always throw some potatoes and corn in there too, as well as some hot dogs, sausages, and an artichoke or two.

And so the idea of this potato salad was born. Potatoes, fresh boiled corn that has been cut off the cob, some boiled crawfish and we are in business. This is what the crawfish look like after they have been peeled - or just out of the bag if you buy them already peeled at the grocery. I don't know how healthy they are, but they sure are good!

And this is what I ended up with after the addition of some chopped onion and a mayonnaise/yogurt based dressing. Would I make this again - probably not. Was it good? Sort of. Was it worth it? Definitely ... this is the way you discover great new things! And you discover some that are not so great. Like this salad.

I made another version of the salad using "olive salad" as the dressing and it was better. Olive salad is the wonderful chopped green olive, pickled carrot and celery, olive oil, and capers and other secret ingredients that you find stuffed into your muffaletas. Much better than version one, and I am not sure why. The olive oil based dressing might have been more healthy, and it had the "secret" ingredient taste that keeps you guessing where you had it before.

So, take this challenge yourself.  It is not too late! And if you want to join us next time around just hop on over to The Daring Kitchen and sign up for the fun! See you there.

Pots, Pans and Potatoes

What IS on that cooktop? Interesting that you would ask right now as The Distracted  Cook is thinking that she needs some new pots and pans, Sounds easy enough, doesn't it? Hop in the RDX Razzle Dazzle and drive on down to the pot and pan store. Oh wait, there isn't any pot and pan store is there? Nope, not really. We do have the usual places to look - Williams Sonoma, Sur La Table, Linens N Things, Walmart, Target, Macy's, you know the drill. But what if I want a really "just right" pot for my cooktop and my cooking style? Then what?

Well The Distracted Cook decided to ask for some help and I was rewarded with some pretty good ideas from a group of "in the know" cooks and chefs who are fellow recipe testers. So I am taking their advice and checking out some suggestions. Almost unanimously, All-Clad was the number one suggested brand and for a lot of good reasons. I did confess that I have a rather brutal style in dealing with my equipment. Not that I throw them around, but I have threatened to brandish the cast iron skillet a few times when someone crosses the line when I am cooking! I really wouldn't do that, but I just love the tall tales about the cooks conking someone on the head with the skillet. And apparently I am not the only one - if you read closely in Michael Ruhlman's The Elements of Cooking you  will see that he knows about the power of the cast iron pot also. I strongly urge you to read his section about cookware if you, like me, are in the process of refitting your kitchen cookware.

Here is what The Distracted Cook has in her supply of cooking utensils - and you will certainly see the pattern here. I have never really been overly concerned with what I am using to cook, and that is obviously a BIG mistake. If you don't use the right size and type of cooking vessel, the recipes aren't always going to result in a big success. Nope, and I never even thought to consider such a thing! It took a good friend from Canada (Thanks so much, Dan) to point that out a few times, especially when it comes to baking things in the oven (where else would I bake them? but that is another story: think Salt Lake City and SUN, SUN, SUN.)

So here they are: an over 30 year old "set" of Revere Ware copper bottomed stainless steel things. 2 skillets (or are these things saute pans? I better check that out), a big pot, a teeny tiny pot, and then the two that I use most often. There are four lids so that everyone has a hat when they need it. Not too bad after all these years, but when you get to cooking you sometimes need more than just two "good size" pots on the stove at once. And if you have already used them and haven't thought ahead to wash them up because you are keeping what's in them "warm" somewhere in the kitchen, you have nothing to use.

But I do. I have another pot that was a gift from a lovely daughter (thank you Kristin) and it is a medium size  non-stick one. But I have done really bad things to this over the years and it isn't very happy right now. This is what he looks like:

So, the next step is to just do it! But what size should I get? I think I'll ask around again for the perfect all-use size. And then we'll see what we can cook-up!

Actually, this is one of the things that I am going to cook up! Right off the starting block, I am thinking that I will use this new pot to boil some potatoes for the very best potato salad in the world. And it is just the thing for The Distracted Cook because it is so easy, so quick, so good. And once you make it, you almost (almost!) don't have to bother with a recipe again. Here is what you do:

1. Go to this place to get a copy of the recipe (how else would you know what to do??) and print it out and staple it to something so you don't lose it. And don't just put it anywhere - start a folder (another story for later) labeled "Really Good" or something that you will remember as your "Go To" place.

2.  Do exactly what the instructions tell you to do. It is really really easy, isn't it? You will love this potato salad and the creme fraiche and chives really give it a special zing. And guess what? Kids love it too, and that was a welcomed and pleasant surprise.

3.  Remember where you put that folder and what you called it because you will be adding to it. And what's the point of being all organized if you can't remember where your organization is, right?

You may just be asking yourself "So what makes this recipe one that The Distracted Cook would put up here for me to see?" Let me tell you - this is a really good recipe. BUT, you can do a whole lot more with it and that is what being The Distracted Cook is all about - and you know that already, don't you! Just think about some crispy bacon sprinkled over the top - that works! Or maybe you really like basil as much as we do? Well tump some shredded basil over the bacon then. And guess what? If you have some great tomatoes sitting around, a few slices beside this potato salad makes a great plate even better. Go ahead and give it a try - you can follow the directions as far as they go and then just keep on going. The hallmark of a great recipe in the opinion of The Distracted Cook is that it is perfect as is but you can make it "your own" with some additional tinkering. Now go ahead - get out that pot and start boiling those potatoes.