Yes it was the great American summer holiday, Independence Day, the fourth of July, and I was preparing lots of food, as I have for a number of years now, for family. By now, I've developed a number of "routines" for taking care of the pulled pork sandwiches (and their necessary accompaniments). But, considering the amount of prep facing me still, I decided to try what seemed like a reasonable shortcut in preparing a classic American picnic dish: potato salad.
Hey, what could go wrong? (said the minimal risk-taker in me). So, I bought a 10 lb. bag of russet potatoes at the store, and began what seemed like the easiest part of the whole easier process--I washed and scrubbed the potatoes, rubbed them with olive oil, and tossed them into a 400 degree F oven for 1 hour. At the end of which I brought them out, pierced each one with a skewer (to release the steam, and hopefully help keep their skins on them when cooled), then I let them cool to room temp (which took longer than you might think, and popped them into the fridge in two large zip locked plastic bags.
The next morning, I took one bag of the chilled (and nicely firmed) potatoes and sliced them into coins/discs around 1/3 in. thick and put them into a large, non-reactive work bowl. Then I sautéed a med-large Walla-Walla onion (coarsely chopped) in olive oil (and 2 t. of fat from the pulled pork, for smoky richness) until the edges were beginning to caramelize. To that I added distilled vinegar, and coarse dijon mustard (prepared with whole mustard seeds) and a good few shakes of dill weed. [Sorry, I have no idea of the actual amounts.]
I poured all of that over the sliced potatoes and put that all back into the plastic bag to marinate/meld flavors until time to serve (6 hrs. or so). It turned out very flavorful and safe in the summer heat (i.e. because it had no mayonaise). Not that that stopped me from adding some mayo and pickles to the leftover salad (for a more classic flavor/texture) when I could serve it from/in a more controlled environment, namely from fridge to table. All in all, I think it was an improvement on the classic.
Now, for the other bag of potatoes (remember I put them into two ziplocs above). Those ones I quartered lengthwise, brushed them with olive oil, sprinkled them with my favorite seasoned salt, and grilled them! Yep, they were like something like a cross between "jojos" and roasted potatoes, crunchy edges, and hot tender centers. Another success (and even more popular than the potato salad!). And simple...who needs extra headaches over holiday cooking?!
The Four Spagyric (Alchemical) Seasons
