Over thirty years ago, when we were young brides who enjoyed visiting each other's homes for lunch and conversation, my cousin Sheryl gave me her recipe for potato salad. It remains one of the best, and certainly the easiest, potato salad I have ever eaten.
Sheryl's Potato Salad
Potatoes, peeled, cut into cubes, and boiled until done
Onion, chopped
Equal amounts of sour cream and Hellman's mayonnaise
salt, pepper
dried parsley
paprika
Douse the drained potatoes with a little cold water, then let them drain until nice and dry. Combine all the ingredients except the paprika. Chill several hours. Top with paprika before serving.
I realize there are no specific amounts, but this is one of those times you don't really need them. Start with however many potatoes you have around the house, maybe three or four. Use one of the mealier potatoes, like russets. Once you see the cooked potatoes in the bowl, use your judgment on how much onion to use. It might depend on what kind of onion you have hanging around. I love to use sweet onions, so I use more than if I used a regular yellow onion, which is going to be much sharper and tear-inducing. Same thing with the sour cream and mayonnaise - start with a heaping tablespoon of each, see how it looks, add more if you need to. Seasoning is totally subjective. After this chills for a while, you will see that the potatoes have absorbed some of the liquids, so if it is looking dry, add equal amounts sour cream and mayo to moisten. Adjust your seasoning, sprinkle your paprika, and serve to friends and family. They will love it.
Sorry to say, I'm not a young bride anymore and neither is Sheryl, although she is looking a hell of a lot younger than I am. Back then, Tom Baker was the Fourth Doctor, Jimmy Carter was President, a gallon of regular gas cost $1.38, and neither one of us had children. I'm guessing it is those four gorgeous grandchildren who keep her young. I'm beginning to think it must be the Eleventh Doctor, George W. Bush, and the price of gas that have been aging me at a rather annoying rate.
Things have changed. So has my recipe for potato salad, but just slightly. For one thing, I'm too lazy to peel potatoes if I don't have to. The regular appearance of new potatoes, smaller, thin-skinned, and waxier than their bigger cousins, has made using potatoes much more pleasant. I think that whoever developed the Yukon Gold Potato should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, since now I can make potato latkes and potato kugel by simply shoving any number of unpeeled Yukons through the feed tube of my Cuisinart. Come the Jewish holidays, that is the height of culinary luxury.
To make things even more interesting, potatoes now come in all sorts of colors, so my potato salad recipe is now cute as well as tasty. Now, if you like old-fashioned potato salad, where the potatoes are a bit "messy" and the result is a creamy, soothing side dish that goes great with your Hebrew National on a bun, stick with Sheryl's original recipe. If you are feeling edgy, or restless, or just plain contrary, try this version:
Edgy but Easy Potato Salad
1 1/2 to 2 pounds small, mixed color potatoes, unpeeled, quartered
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 bunch green onions, sliced (use the white and light green parts)
1/2 of a bottled roasted red pepper, sliced into thin, 1/2 inch long strips
kosher salt, black pepper
celery seed
Emeril's Essence
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
Hungarian paprika
Boil the potatoes, drain and cool. Combine all of the ingredients except for the parsley and paprika, and mix gently. Add more sour cream and mayonnaise if mixture seems a little dry. Chill several hours. Top with a little sweet Hungarian paprika before serving.
Multi-colored mini potatoes
Turnip Greens, because Publix didn't have any Collards - before I moved to Florida, I had never eaten collards or anything resembling collards. I think the first time I tried them was off the buffet at The Lady and Sons, and I am pleased to report that unlike grits, collards make perfect sense and taste good too.
Since then I have made them at home fairly often, but always with the pre-chopped greens that come in a bag. It would be nice to make them the old-fashioned way, starting with a bunch of whole leaf greens, which is how many of the southern recipes are written. As it turns out, Publix just doesn't carry them that way, and the convenience of the bagged greens is too good to ignore.
Now Publix usually stocks four kinds of bagged greens, collards, turnip, kale, and mustard, so today, because I planned on collard greens, they were out. Figures. And I can't find my chocolate covered mini marshmallows anymore, either. What's up with that? Anyway, I decided on turnip greens, which are my clear second favorite. These greens are the leaves from the whole turnip plant - most northerners are more familiar with the white and purple root, which we eat in soups and stews.
I use Paula Deen's recipe to prepare both collards and turnip greens, just adjusting for bagged versus bunched greens. Her recipe for House Seasoning is on the same page. I make up a small amount, using kosher salt, coarse black pepper and granulated garlic, and I keep it in a little Tupperware container next to the stove.
Here are the instructions for how I prepared the turnip greens today. If you have never tasted greens, but you like cabbage, Brussel sprouts, and other cruciferous vegetables, I recommend you try this recipe. And if you happen to have a little corn bread to dip into the pot likker, you may just find yourself whistling Dixie.
1 smoked ham hock
4 quarts water
1 teaspoon The Lady and Sons House Seasoning
2 Knorr chicken bouillon cubes
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
a good shot of Tabasco sauce
1 bay leaf
2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole
2 teaspoons sugar
4 tablespoons butter
1-1 pound bag of precut turnip greens, rinsed in colander
Put the ham hock in the water with the House Seasoning, bouillon cubes, ginger, Tabasco, bay leaf, garlic and sugar. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and cook, partially covered, for 1 1/2 hours.
Sort through the greens in the bag. I like to discard any leaves that are yellowed, or with dark spots, or seem soggy. Place the remaining greens and rinse with some cool water. They are prewashed, so you can probably skip this step if you want.
Add the butter to the pot, and then add the greens. Stir into the liquid and let cook, uncovered for 45 more minutes. With a slotted spoon, remove the ham hock to a cutting board, and then remove the cooked greens to a serving dish. Turn the heat up under the pot and reduce the cooking liquid to about one-third the volume. There is very little meat on a hock, but salvage what you can, chop fine, and add to the greens. Once the liquid is reduced, use a ladle to pick up some of the liquid from the top, where the butter and flavor from the smoked ham hock is more concentrated, and add to the dish with the greens.
A very happy Mother's Day to all you moms, stepmoms, grandmas, and aunties. And just for tomorrow, let someone else do the cooking.
Cook like there's nobody watching, and eat like it's heaven on earth.
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