bike rides and potato salad

I definitely believe that food tastes better after strenuous physical activity--running, heavy lifting, etc.  This recipe, however, would most likely taste just as good without all of that work--although i felt better about having a second helping because i had worked so hard! 

Yesterday a friend and I went for a 35 mile bike ride--up and down Vermont's lovely hills and seriously neglected roads.  At the end of it all a beautiful pool and tasty dinner awaited us.  Dinner, the more important of the two, consisted of slow cooked, fall off the bone ribs, slathered with homemade bbq sauce (hopefully this recipe will be forthcoming), coleslaw and the following potato salad recipe:

Grilled Red Potato Salad with Bacon-Blue Cheese Vinaigrette (a bobby flay original)

Ingredients (enough for 8 servings)
4 pounds new potatoes, scrubbed, cooked until almost tender, drained, and halved
1/4 cup olive oil, plus 1/4 cup
Salt and freshly ground black 3/4 pound hickory smoked bacon
1 large red onion, finely sliced
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 cup crumbled blue cheese

Directions
Preheat grill. Toss potatoes with 1/4 cup olive oil and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Grill cut side down for 3 minutes. Turn over and continue grilling 2 to 3 minutes. Place in a large bowl.

Place medium skillet on stove or the grill and heat until almost smoking. Add the bacon and cook until golden brown and crisp. Remove to a plate lined with paper towels. Let cool and crumble.

Remove all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat from the pan. Add the onions and cook until soft, 5 to 6 minutes. Add 1/4 cup olive oil, vinegar, and sugar and cook until sugar is dissolved. Pour the onion mixture over the potatoes, add the crumbled bacon and parsley and toss to combine, season with salt and lots of black pepper.

Spoon the salad onto a large platter and sprinkle with the crumbled blue cheese.

The flavors are so rich, a little goes a long way.

Tom and Gloria, thanks for a great day!!

He calls it "dinner duty"

Phil has been cooking a few nights a week. And as much as I love to cook and have what some might call "control issues" in the kitchen, it has been so nice to have a few days a week where I don't wake up thinking about how I am going to turn nothing into something called dinner.

Monday Phil decided to try a few recipes from the Burlington Free Press, our local daily. The menu looked like this...

First, a "tex-mex" spice rub for chicken thighs.  Next, coleslaw. And finally, potato chips. 

The Rub:

1/4 cup kosher salt

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

rub meat (in our case chicken) with rub.  Phil fired up the charcoal grill.  cooked thighs over direct heat for 3 minutes on each side and then moved the chicken to indirect heat for another 15 minutes.  keep the top on grill for better cooking, says grill master Phil.

The Slaw:
1 green onion (all of it, diced)
1 shredded carrot
1 small head broccoli, broken into small pieces
1/2 small head of purple cabbage, shredded

4 tbsp red vinegar

2 tbsp course ground mustard

2 tbsp tamari

chop, dice, shred veggies. mix wet ingredients in a small jar with tight lid.  combine. letting it sit out of the frig for a bit will allow for veggies to tenderize a bit.

The Chips:

4 potatoes (we used Idaho)

2 tbsp salt

4 cups peanut or canola oil

using a mandolin, slice potatoes thin. rinse with running water, then soak in cold water and 2 tbsp salt for 30 minutes. use towel to dry slices before frying.  Add oil to pan, heat to 325.  add slices in batches. cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until golden brown.  remove slices with slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel-lined plate.  We added salt and pepper at this point, but you could add any spice. 

And put it all together and what a treat!  A great summer meal to enjoy while watching the Bruins win game 5! Thanks Phil!!