Delicate Pea & Potato Salad
Today is one of those hot August days that calls for some cool food. I made a salad with peas and potatoes and believe me, the vegetables do the talking in this one. I picked the peas at Charpia Farms in the spring. I blanched and froze them, and today, the peas were just perfect! Instructions will be below on how to use frozen peas. The potatoes are the Sunlite brand.
The salad has a delicate flavor and you really taste the freshness of the peas and the creaminess of the Sunlite potatoes. Hope the Sunlite company won’t mind me saying that. These new lower carb potatoes are being grown by select farmers, and I love, love the flavor.
Another salad that I made and dearly love is Broccoli Salad. You’ve all had it, I know. I’m sure you have the recipe in your file, but for those that don’t, I’d love to share. Today was one of those days that I didn’t have the usual ingredients so I made it with sliced toasted almonds and grapes. The problem with this salad is that I can’t stop eating it!
I also roasted chicken breast and sliced it to serve with the salads. The recipe is below. Enjoy your Southern Sunday Dinner. You’ll remember the occasion with your family a lot of years from now.
The Recipe-
Pea & Potato Salad
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 cups green peas, fresh or frozen
3 tablespoons finely chopped light green inner celery stalks including leaves
2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion, plus 1/2 tablespoon for garnish
1/2 tablespoon finely chopped fresh dill, plus 1 teaspoon for garnish
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon Country Dijon Mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
Place potato cubes in a sauce pan and cover with salted water. Cook the potatoes until tender. Drain potatoes and set aside in a bowl large enough to mix the potatoes and peas with the sauce. Bring a saucepan of water to a boil and add the peas. Cook for 5 minutes. Drain the peas and place into the bowl with the potatoes. Add the celery and onion. In a small bowl, add the dill, sour cream, mayonnaise, lemon juice, and mustard. Salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with the remaining dill and red onion.
Broccoli Salad with Toasted Almonds & Red Grapes
Words can’t express how much I enjoy this salad. Okay, I really enjoy it. I’ll say it no more. I change this salad around every once in a while. Today, for example, I didn’t have raisins which I usually use in the salad, so I used red grapes. I think I liked it with the grapes even better because of the sweetness. I also didn’t have sunflower seeds so I used toasted almonds. I liked those better as well.
I was working at Disney right after culinary school as an “on call” chef. I was in the kitchen in one of the restaurants and was told that we were out of salad and was asked to make one as fast as I could. So, I gathered the ingredients and made a lot of this salad. It was gone in a flash. I didn’t have any recipes with me that day and this was one of my personal, at home recipes, but in spite of not having amounts, the salad was still really good.
The Recipe-
Broccoli Salad with Toasted Almonds & Red Grapes
12 ounce of fresh broccoli florets, cut into bite size pieces
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
1/2 cup toasted, sliced almonds (toast in microwave for one minute)
1/2 cup grapes, halved
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoon cider vinegar (or, rice wine vinegar which has a more delicate flavor)
Place broccoli, onion, almonds, and grapes into a large bowl. In another bowl, mix mayonnaise, sugar, and vinegar. Pour the mayonnaise mixture over the broccoli mixture and toss to coat the florets. Chill before serving. Serves 8.
The Recipe-
Chicken Breasts with Olive Oil, Lemon Juice, Paprika
The chicken breasts are easy to cook. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking pan with foil. Place the desired number of chicken breast in the pan. Make a mixture of 2 parts oil to one part lemon juice, and sprinkle in paprika, salt and pepper. Pour it over the chicken breasts and bake until done, basting with the liquid as it cooks. The chicken breasts temperature when done should be about 170-177 degrees on a meat thermometer. I’ve been using this same recipe since 1964 and it has served me well. Serve with horseradish sauce.