Sunday, March 7, 2010

Beauty in simplicity

The weather this passing weekend was just beautiful. Sunshine, blue skies, and double-digit temperatures are always a welcome change from a dreary Canadian winter. It's the kind of weather that makes you want to rummage through the vegetable crisper and see what's on hand for a tasty spring-time salad.

Unfortunately, a certain someone forgot to go shopping for veggies this week (my bad everyone). But that's OK. After all, part of student cooking is using what you've got and not necessarily what you need.

All that was on hand was a bell pepper, a few stalks of celery, and potatoes. Lots and lots of potatoes. And if there is anything spending time in a kitchen will teach you it's that when life gives you potatoes, you make potato salad!



Simply Sublime Potato Salad

Ingredients

-Four (4) cups of potatoes; cooked and cubed [Five - six (5-6) medium sized potatoes]
-Half a cup (1/2) of green peppers, diced
-Half a cup (1/2) of celery, chopped
-Three (3) eggs
-Three quarters (3/4) of a cup of mayonnaise
-Two (2) Tbsp of Dijon mustard
-Salt and pepper

Makes four servings



1. Clean and boil potatoes for 20 minutes in a large pot of water or until flesh is easily pierced with a fork. Drain, let cool for 10 minutes. Peel and dice into cubes.





2. Place eggs in a small pot of water and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat and keep eggs simmering for 10-15 minutes.



4. Using a slotted spoon, rest eggs in cold water for 10 minutes. Once eggs are cool enough to handle, crack on a hard surface to remove shell. Next, dice the now hard-boiled eggs into bite-sized pieces.



5. In a large bowl, combine potatoes, eggs, diced peppers, chopper celery, mayonnaise, mustard, as well as salt and pepper. Gently mix until ingredients are evenly coated.



6. Savor with your favorite entrée or enjoy it on it's own for lunch.



A few tips:

-Yukon potatoes will work for this dish, but baby new potatoes are better suited. Again, it's all about what you've got on hand.

-Personally, the B.L.T. Project prefers to boil potatoes with the skin on to prevent the water logging . This method is more time consuming when it comes to peeling, as the potatoes will still be very hot. Let them cool first and handle with paper towel.

-Feel free to add whatever you've got on hand to this dish. Just because the ingredient list stops at seven, doesn't mean you have to!