Disaster Kitchen: Kick-Ass Potato Salad

Ellen was kind enough to give me her (chef) brother- in-law Eric's recipe for self- proclaimed "Kick-Ass Potato Salad." I've decided that self-adulation is a good feature in any recipe. Who wants to tell you that your dish is misnamed?

The recipe was two pages long, single-spaced. Eric described each step in painstaking detail. He would probably been horrified to see how I executed it (pun acknowledged)... but such is the hallmark of Disaster Kitchen.

In fact, it was a bit of a sentimental recipe; Ellen and I made this on one of her first appearances on the show. They just don't make disasters like that anymore. Kick-ass potato salad, raspberry brownies, and fruit salad, and we two chefs all colliding in that fabulous Lincoln kitchen. We delivered our successes to the party in characteristic style--laughing so loudly on the stairs that they heard us coming before we knocked.

Today I had no sidekick, which is probably just as well since it was about 100 degrees in my kitchen. I didn't want to turn on the oven to roast the pepper... so I wisely held it over my gas burner. I thought I'd also try roasting the garlic in the microwave; people may tell you this works, but don't believe them. I ended up sauteeing the garlic with the onions and leeks.

The results were impressive, however, which goes to show the strength of a good recipe, even in my hands. I did make one particular change with which I was pleased: instead of using sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds, I roasted and threw in a whole package of pine nuts.

So, it was a success. I think that mostly people just liked saying, "CëRï, your potato salad really is kick-ass." Awww, thanks, guys--you're not just saying that?

This is my advisor, Rebecca. The party was at her house. It was taken with my new CardCam (thanks, Bryant), which may have been more popular at the party than I--kick-ass potato salad notwithstanding. Here are some more pictures.

Claas (and Nate's back)

Michelle and me (taken by Emily, who is one of my coolness heroes: obvious from the picture, right?)

Croquet people: Brittney, Angie, Ian, Thomas, Patrick, a guy named David.

Rockin' Thai Salad

I took Kick-Ass Potato Salad to Rebecca's the last time she had a party at her house, and it now appears that I cannot bring a dish without it having a suitable, preferably flattering, title. I arrived with a bowl full of spicy noodles; I left with the scanty leftovers of a much enjoyed Rockin' Thai Salad.

Here you can see Allie, on the left, digging in, while Carolyn (the new first year grad), Rebecca, and Lynn (a many-year grad, who last year taught the Lourdes class I'm teaching this semester) look on. Carolyn's husband Tom is in the background.

I really did take some great shots, but unfortun- ately Mr. CardCam doesn't seem to have recorded them all. Here is the only other shot I got of the gathering, Andrew's adorable soon-to-be-three-year-old, Leanne. It's Andrew's knee in the right corner... and I think those are Rebecca's legs.

After the sun went down, Rebecca started a bonfire fueled by old exams she'd cleaned out of her files, and I roasted two marshmallows. At about 10, Lynn, Carolyn, Tom and I cleared out, leaving Ruthy, Rebecca, and Allie to presumably burn through the rest of the papers and the wine on the table.

THIS is what I had waiting for me at home. Yesterday it was on my right kitchen window, driving me crazy with its chirping; today it seems to have traversed the space behind my cupboards to drive me crazy from even closer to my computer. Lacking both Ellen's landlady's desire to exterminate and Ellen's own critter catching skills, I may just have to outlast the thing.