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....