Warm Potato and Fresh Pea Salad

First, let me apologize for being erratic with my blog updates. Part of it is sheer laziness (both in lack of cooking and lack of posting what I do manage to cook these days), and part of it is that I'm way busier than I was when I started this thing... and that's LEGIT!

Let me also explain a couple of lifestyle changes I've made. First, I've started Intermittent Fasting. How does this affect my blog, you ask? Well, the calorie counts of my recipes have increased... by quite a bit. Second, I've started eating fewer carbohydrates. The affect of that one is quite obvious and a little funny to mention here in this post about POTATO salad. Hey, I said "fewer" not "no." And third, I've started lifting heavy weights aka training. That's just a tidbit of which I'm quite proud.

On to the food! This was adapted from smitten kitchen's warm lentil and potato salad. I just happened to have a bag of fresh peas that needed eating and then I thought... why not add bacon? I mean, really, when is the answer to that ever no. I know there are times, but I don't care.

Warm Potato and Fresh Pea Salad
Components
4 strips thick-cut bacon, cut into "lardons"
A few Brussels sprouts, shaved (optional - I had 5 leftover and just decided "why not?")
600-ish grams of peeled potatoes, in small chunks (new/red potatoes would be great, but I only had russet, which were fine, but not the best)
10 oz fresh peas (I get fresh English peas from Trader Joe's, but frozen ones would be fine)

Dressing
1 small shallot, minced (2-4 T, depending on your taste)
1/4 C red wine vinegar (I may have used more because I love vinegar)
2 T capers, drained
4 cornichons, minced (or mini kosher dills)
2 T - 1/4 C olive oil (I used 2 T, but called it 1/4 C in the recipe because I didn't discard the bacon grease... yeah it's lazy and inaccurate, so sue me)
salt and pepper to taste

In a small bowl, pour the vinegar over the shallots and let it sit while you do the rest of the things (this will mellow out the shallot flavor).

Start your bacon in a pan on low heat to render as much fat as possible. Once that's nearly complete, add the Brussels sprouts and cook until tender. Set aside.

Cook potatoes in salted water until close to fork-tender. Add the peas to the potatoes and cook another 60-90 seconds until the peas are done. Drain and put back into the pot with the lid on for 5 minutes to absorb the remaining water and steam.

Stir the rest of the dressing ingredients into the shallots & vinegar. In a large serving bowl, combine the potatoes & peas and bacon & Brussels and toss well with the dressing. Sever warm and enjoy.

BBQ Chicken and Yogurt Potato Salad

I'm finally posting my super-amazing BBQ chicken "recipe." It starts with a marinade that I then boil down to make a sauce. A stroke of pure genius had me serving it with my yogurt potato salad and some broccoli that I roasted on the grill (just drizzle some olive oil over some broccoli and add some smashed garlic cloves, enclose in a foil pouch and ignore on the grill while the chicken cooks... and don't forget to squeeze half a lemon on it before serving like I did!).

Sorry the picture isn't so great... I forgot to snap one while the food was still in the kitchen where the good lighting is.

BBQ Chicken
Marinade/Sauce
Apple cider vinegar
Molasses
Brown sugar
Ketchup
Soy Sauce
Crushed red pepper flakes
Black peppercorns
Garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
Onion powder

Put these things into a very large ziploc bag and mix well. The proportions are up to you. I use about 4 cups of vinegar as the base. This is a tangy NC-inspired marinade/sauce. I also use quite a lot of the red pepper flakes so it's pretty spicy.

Once you've got the chicken on the grill, pour the leftover marinade into a saucepan and bring it to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer it for a while, then strain it into a serving apparatus (I like using a squeeze bottle).

Chicken
A bunch of chicken, with bones and skin (I did a "Family Pack" of 4 drumsticks and 2 breasts)
Marinade from above
About 1 C applewood chips, soaked for 15 minutes

Marinate the chicken for at least 4 hours, letting it come to room temperature for no more than 2 hours before grilling. Get your grill going at a nice low steady heat. Put the applewood chips in a little foil bowl and stick that on the coals. If you have a gas grill, I don't know what you are supposed to do with wood chips, sorry. Wait a few minutes until the wood chips start to smoke. Pull the chicken out of the marinade and place it on the grill, skin-side down. Grill breasts first, since they take the longest (they will need about a 10-minute head start depending on size). Grill the chicken for a few minutes and flip. Move the chicken around the grill to get desired amount of char. Pull the chicken off once the thickest parts reach 160°F and let it rest for about 5 minutes to get up to 165°F, which is the temperature recommended for chicken.

Yogurt Potato Salad
2 lb red potatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces (I ended up with 30 oz after trimming off some weird parts)
1-1/2 T olive oil
1 medium shallot, diced
1 red bell pepper, large-diced
2 large or 4 small carrots, thinly sliced (cut large ones in half lengthwise)
1 C plain yogurt (Greek or regular, but Greek will make a thicker dressing)
Red wine vinegar to taste
1/2 t onion powder
1/2 t garlic powder
Salt and pepper

Put the potatoes in a pot and cover them with water. Drain them, then cover them with water again. Bring to a boil and cook the potatoes just until tender. It only takes a few minutes when the pieces are so small. Be careful not to overcook them! Drain the potatoes and then place back in the pot with the lid on so they absorb the last bit of moisture. If after a few minutes, they're still pretty damp, turn on a little heat. Very dry potatoes make the best salad. Pour the potatoes into a very large bowl and toss them with the olive oil. Stir in the veggies, then mix together the rest of the ingredients in a separate bowl before mixing into the salad. Refrigerate for a couple of hours, or better yet, overnight. If you want, add some chopped fresh herbs, like chives or flat-leaf parsley.

Potato salad Serves 6.

Marinated Tri-Tip, Zucchini Latkes, and Roasted Red Potatoes

I was having one of my weirder cravings today, and that was for HP Fruity sauce. I had already planned to cook the tri-tip I had in the fridge, so I decided to marinate it in the HP Fruity along with some soy sauce (of course) and malt vinegar. To go with it, I made zucchini latkes (trying everything to get my husband to like zucchini!) and roasted red potatoes. The potatoes take the longest (about 40 minutes), so I started those first.

There's one zucchini latke missing because I forgot to take a picture of my plate first!

Roasted Red Potatoes
1 1/2 lb baby red potatoes
oil spray
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425°F. Wash the potatoes and cut them into 2-inch chunks. Lay them out on a baking sheet and pop them in the oven for a couple of minutes if they're not completely dry. Once dry, spray the potato chunks with oil (I used olive), and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for about 40 minutes. This makes 4 servings, so you'll either have leftovers or use fewer potatoes. I like leftover potatoes (I ate them for breakfast today with cheese, jalapeños, sour cream, and a fried egg).

Zucchini Latkes
1 large (about 8 oz or 225 g) zucchini, shredded
1 t salt
1 shallot, shredded
1 egg
1/4 C bread crumbs or crushed matzo
pepper

In a large bowl, sprinkle the salt on the shredded zucchini and let sit for 10-20 minutes, then squeeze out the excess liquid. You could do this in a fine mesh strainer, but I didn't feel like washing another dish. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Spoon onto a warm skillet or griddle (sprayed with oil if not non-stick) and press flat. Cook on both sides until browned and tender. Serve with sour cream. Makes 6 5-inch latkes, which I decided were 2 servings.

Seared & Roasted Marinated Tri-Tip
1-ish lb tri-tip or other lean beef
HP Fruity (or just HP sauce or A-1, I suppose)
soy sauce
malt vinegar
garlic powder
black pepper

Pour all of the things over the steak and stir it around. Let it marinate for a few hours, flipping at least once. Sear in a hot pan and finish in the oven at 325°F.  Once the potatoes were finished, I pulled them out and turned the oven down, then put the steak in for about 8 minutes. The time in the oven depends on how you like your meat cooked. This was unintentionally medium-well, FYI. There were 3 pieces of meat in my 1.18-lb package, so this was 3 servings.

This is only the beginning of the sear, btw.

DINNER!!!