Spin on Potato Salad and Cannoli's

I guess potato salad and cannoli's don't generally go hand in hand, but sometimes when you're in the mood to try out different things, you pick what you pick and you don't throw a fit!


Yesterday I was in the mood for a different kind of potato salad then the one I usually make. Jon and I had decided that we wanted to cook out some Italian sausages on the grill and we both really could go for potato salad. I looked all over the net and found this yummy sounding one on Epicurious....

Jacques's French Potato Salad 

So it was decided I would make that. But I was really also jiving to make these very yummy cannoli knock-offs I found in my current issue of the Food Network Magazine. They're actually called, 'Cone-oli's" since instead of the typical shell you use, they substituted sugar ice cream cones. They're adorable!
For the potato salad, it calls for Fingerling Potatoes. In case you didn't know, Fingerling Potatoes look like this....

But wouldn't you know it, the commissary (our military grocery store) didn't have any and I was not about to run back into town. So I improvised and bought small red potatoes. I also couldn't find any chive (UGH, seriously?!) so just used a little more green onion. Oh! And I was totally in my 'happy place' since I got to use a couple of herbs from my container garden! JOY!!!
Here is the recipe for the Potato Salad....

Jacques's French Potato Salad 

yield: About 6 cups, serving 4 to 6

• 2 pounds fingerling potatoes or other small waxy potatoes
• 1/2 cup or so extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup 1/4-inch slices of scallion, green and white parts
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 3 cloves garlic, mashed and coarsely chopped (1 1/2 tsp)
• 1/3 cup white wine
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Dijon-style mustard
• 2 to 3 tablespoons chopped chives
• 2 tablespoons or more coarsely chopped fresh green or purple basil, fresh tarragon, or parsley
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more if needed
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper (coarse), plus more if needed

For serving and garnishing

Large radicchio leaves, about 6, from the outside of the head
1 or 2 hard-boiled eggs, coarsely chopped
Chopped fresh parsley

Scrub the potatoes and put them, whole, in a saucepan with water to cover by 1/2 inch. Bring the water to a boil, reduce the heat, and cook the potatoes gently until they are just tender and can be pierced with a sharp knife. Drain immediately and let cool slightly. (Scrape the skin from the cooked potatoes, if you want, as soon as they can be handled. For a decorative look with fingerlings, scrape off only a band of skin, about 1/2 inch thick, all around the long sides of the potato.)

Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a small saute pan. When hot, add the scallions and the onion, toss to coat well, and cook for about a minute over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, toss to mix, and cook for just a few moments, then remove the pan from the heat.

Slice the potatoes while still warm, cutting them crosswise into 1/2-inch sections. Put the pieces in a large mixing bowl, pour the wine and 3 or 4 tablespoons of olive oil over them, and toss gently to distribute. Add the warm vegetables from the pan, mustard, chives, chopped herbs, salt, and pepper, and gently fold all together, mixing well but not crushing the potatoes. Taste the salad and add more seasonings as you like.

Serve the potatoes warm (no colder than room temperature). Arrange the large radicchio leaves, if you have them, in a close circle on the serving platter, with their curved insides up, to form a rough bowl. Spoon the potato salad inside the leaves, sprinkle chopped egg around the edges, and parsley over the top. 

Cooks Notes: Not only could I not find any fingerling potatoes or chives but I also couldn't find any  radicchio. It was not a good day to grocery shop apparently. One of the things that I despise by living here btw...hard to find ingredients that really aren't that 'unique'. UGH!  

But that is the beauty of cooking - IMPROVISING! So I didn't have the right potatoes or the chives and radicchio leaves. But that didn't mean it wasn't delicious! Jon and I LOVED it! My sister and her kids, on the other hand - well, it wasn't their cup of tea. But we've just resigned ourselves to the fact that just because we're sisters doesn't mean we were born with the same food pallet. HER LOSS! 

My lovely Potato Salad...

Up next was our dessert for tonight! I love Cannolli's and when I saw this in the Food Network magazine, I just had to make it!

Cone-Oli's
 

Yield: 6 sevings

• 1 1/4 cups ricotta cheese
• 1/4 cup cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar, plus more for dusting
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
• 1/3 cup finely chopped bittersweet or semisweet chocolate (about 2 ounces)
• 6 sugar cones
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped pistachios

Directions

Put the ricotta in a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl. Refrigerate 30 minutes to drain.

Transfer the ricotta to a large bowl. Add the cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, vanilla and almond extracts, and the orange zest and beat with a mixer until smooth and fluffy, about 1 minute. Fold in 3 tablespoons chopped chocolate. Cover and refrigerate until thick and cold, at least 1 hour.

Transfer the ricotta mixture to a resealable plastic bag. Snip off one corner and pipe the mixture into the cones. Gently press the remaining chocolate and the pistachios into the ricotta mixture. Dust the cones with confectioners' sugar. 

Now, I'm not one generally for the chocolate-orange combination, but I have to say it was dang tasty in this! Again, no one but Jon and I liked them (all the more for us). I thought that at least with the cute little sugar cones, they would of gobbled them up but alas, another culinary expedition that only resulted in Jon and I eating the whole dang thing. 

Such is life....

Lemon Fusilli with Arugula - slight repost

My friend Gia, wanted me to post the recipe for the pasta I made to take to Gourmet Club. So here it is in all it's glory!

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon good olive oil
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic (2 cloves)
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 3 lemons
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 bunch broccoli
• 1 pound dried fusilli pasta
• 1/2 pound baby arugula (or 2 bunches of common arugula, leaves cut in thirds)
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
• 1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the garlic, and cook for 60 seconds. Add the cream, the zest from 2 lemons, the juice of 2 lemons, 2 teaspoons of salt, and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until it starts to thicken.

Meanwhile, cut the broccoli in florets and discard the stem. Cook the florets in a pot of boiling salted water for 3 to 5 minutes, until tender but still firm. Drain the broccoli and run under cold water to stop the cooking. Set aside.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add 1 tablespoon of salt and the pasta, and cook according to the directions on the package, about 12 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain the pasta in a colander and place it back into the pot. Immediately add the cream mixture and cook it over medium-low heat for 3 minutes, until most of the sauce has been absorbed in the pasta. Pour the hot pasta into a large bowl, add the arugula, Parmesan, tomatoes, and cooked broccoli. Cut the last lemon in half lengthwise, slice it 1/4-inch thick crosswise, and add it to the pasta. Toss well, season to taste, and serve hot.

*Recipe courtesy of Ina Garten, Food Network.

Chocolate Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies

I FINALLY got around to giving my friend Jennie her cookies that she earned by coming up with THE BEST tag line for my blog. I have to tell you, I felt bad that I made her wait almost 3 weeks to get them. But between getting caught in a tornado (and all the aftermath that entailed), to my folks visiting, to us leaving for our vacation in FL, my life was hectic to say the least. I made sure to make it a priority to get those cookies made as soon as we got back from FL so I wouldn't be such a slacker!

Congrats again Jennie for being my 'winner-winner chicken dinner' and I'm so glad to know you liked my cookies!

And now ladies and gents, here's my recipe handed down from my Mom (and possibly, my Grandma) for my No-Bake cookies.....

2 Cups Sugar

1 Stick Butter

3 TB Cocoa Powder

½ Cup Milk

1 tsp Vanilla

½ Cup Peanut Butter

1½ to 2 Cups QUICK cooking oats

Slowly melt the butter in a sauce pan on med-low heat until melted. Add the sugar, cocoa powder and milk. Combine until dissolved. Once dissolved, kick up the heat to high. As soon as it starts to boil, cook for ONE MINUTE EXACTLY.

As soon as the minute is up, quickly add the vanilla followed by the peanut butter. Mix quickly. Then add up to 2 Cups of the oats. 

Spoon out onto wax paper.  

Once cooled, you can store in an air tight container. But they'll be eaten before you know it so don't worry about needing to keep them from drying out.

Cook Notes:
Have everything prepped and ready BEFORE you start. Lay down your wax paper, get a trivet or oven mitts set up next to the wax paper to set your pan down on. Have everything measured out. ESPECIALLY the peanut butter, oats and vanilla.


When I say you can use up to 2 cups of the oats, it all depends on the amount of humidity in the air that day. No bakes are very temperamental! I usually ALWAYS mess up one batch when I make them. Either they won't 'set' or they're too dry. You want them to have a nice glossy look. If they start to crumble, might as well feed them to the dogs because they won't work after that.


Prepare to slap hands away that keep trying to pick at the cookies while they're cooling. I find a wooden spoon helps with that. ☺