Tag Archives: potato salad recipe

Green Salad & New Potatoes — With An Emphasis on Green

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Eat your veggies -- new potatoes with peas, edamame, and spinach in a creamy, herby dressing.
Eat your veggies — new potatoes with peas, edamame, and spinach in a creamy, herby dressing.

Basic doesn’t have to mean boring.

Nor does it have to be so rudimentary to be pointless.

So, when “Basics Vegetables” (Hardie Grant, 2025) landed on my porch as a review copy, I didn’t dismiss it outright, thinking I already know full well how to cook vegetables.

Instead, I leafed through the pages by Severine Auge, a Paris chef and recipe writer, and found a handy cookbook filled with helpful step-by-step photos for tried-and-true recipes ideal for young, newbie or infrequent cooks or anyone interested in adding more delicious vegetables to their diet.

There are detailed recipes for everything from “Smashed Potatoes” and “Tomato Tatin” to “Veggie Ramen,” “Lentil Shepherd’s Pie,” and “No-Bake Chocolate-Hazelnut Pot de Creme.”

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New Potatoes with Mustard Oil Herb Salsa

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Get acquainted with mustard oil with this punchy potato salad.
Get acquainted with mustard oil with this punchy potato salad.

Some like it hot.

Not the scorching inferno down the throat type.

But a clear-the-sinuses, combustion-of-the-nose kind of way.

Like wasabi or horseradish.

Only, this happens to be golden, viscous mustard oil.

It offers a similar kick in the nostrils, but also has a sharpness and nuttiness. It also has a high smoke point, making it versatile enough to use either as a finishing or cooking oil.

I had a chance to play around with it after receiving a sample of Yandilla Mustard Seed Oil ($22.95 for a 500ml bottle), made in Australia.

The only FDA-approved mustard oil.
The only FDA-approved mustard oil.

It bills itself as the only food-grade mustard oil in the United States that is FDA approved, thanks to its very low level of erucic acid.

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Cooking in Embers a la Michael Chiarello

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Grilled potato salad with ember-roasted garlic dressing -- to put pizzazz in your Fourth of July.

Grilled potato salad with ember-roasted garlic dressing — to put pizzazz in your Fourth of July.

Men like to play with fire. And male chefs sure like cooking with it.

In fact, cooking in embers is all the rage now at places like Saison in San Francisco, and the Restaurant at Meadowood in St. Helena.

What’s the appeal? First, the primal aspect of it all. Second, the technique makes use of the residual heat that would otherwise just dissipate and go to waste. Third, it adds a gentle yet deep smoky quality.

I thought I’d give it a try, particularly when a free copy of the new “Michael Chiarello’s Live Fire” (Chronicle Books) landed in my mailbox for reviewing. Chiarello is a major fan of live fire. Every Northern California he’s worked in or owned — Tra Vigne, Bottega and Coqueta — all feature grills with live fire.

MichaelChiarelloLiveFire

The book includes 125 recipes for cooking everything from seafood to pizza to desserts over a live fire. Of course, not many of us may have the space to cook a whole baby goat on a spitjack in our backyard, but there are plenty of recipes easily do-able even on a compact grill.

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