Feasting Friday- Surpise Thursday Edition Fourth of July Recipes

Hello, chickens! I hope you are well on your way to a fabulous holiday weekend. I know that this is an early post, but I figured that many of you might not be checking the computer tomorrow, and I wanted to get in a couple good 4th of July recipes for you!



I know that I am very much looking forward to a major BBQ bash with family and friends this weekend. But whether you are hosting or bringing something to a pal’s house for their feast, it is a weekend where you need to maybe make large amounts of family-friendly fare. Whomever is manning the grill can use their best recipe for burgers, dogs, ribs, or other stuff. Want to make them the happiest camper ever? Get them this uber-mega grill brush.

Steven Raichlen sent it along, and boy does this sucker work! Just don’t try it on your Smokey Joe, because the head is nearly wider than the whole surface of that little munchkin of the back porch grills. But if you or a loved one has a large grill, this is the last brush you will ever need.  Charming Suitor is madly in love with it. 

"This thing is like driving a Lexus.  Sure, a Kia will get you there eventually, but the Lexus will do it in a much superior and more comfortable fashion.  The one side gets the big junk out of the way so that the little side can really clean.  It hits all the little nooks and crannies.  And the leverage you get gives you serious torque so it only takes a few swipes to get the job done, and frankly, it is nice to have the extra-long handle so I can really get the grill clean without burning all the hair off my arms.  Mondo grill brush."
                  --Charming Suitor

Proteins are usually easy to decide upon for your backyard celebrations, but I often find that we fall down a bit on everything else.  So I’m here to save the day on side dishes. I know it is tempting to just buy cole slaw and potato salad. They are everywhere and very easy to just purchase. But I beg of you, give these a try. I promise they will elevate your party, or grace the table of any potluck you may attend.

And for a refreshing unexpected side, why not Cold Sesame Noodles?  These are your best friend if you have vegetarians coming over, especially since you can grill some thick slabs of firm tofu (marinate in equal parts soy and rice vinegar with a dash of toasted sesame oil for an hour, then brush with oil and grill 2 minutes per side) to place on top.


The slaw is my own original recipe, designed to balance rich fatty meats or spicy dishes with ease. And it is a nice change from the gloppy mayo-based slaw you may be used to.


Jade Slaw

(thanks to Farm1 for the pic)

I use this mandoline and this julienne mandoline for this slaw, both are very affordable and make a world of difference in making this a delicate and uniform slaw.  You can also use the Swissmar julienne peeler that comes in the set of three to help make this easier.




1 head green cabbage shredded as finely as possible on mandoline, (think angel hair pasta, not spaghetti!)
2 heads fennel, sliced paper thin
2 green apples, julienned fine
1 large jicama, julienned fine
2 hearts of celery, sliced fine
¼ c rice wine vinegar
2 T sugar
1 T soy sauce
1 T grated ginger
1/3 c canola oil
½ t ground pepper or grains of paradise
Pinch salt




Mix dressing ingredients together till well blended. Toss veggies and apples with dressing till thoroughly coated. Let sit a minimum of 1 hour for flavors to blend, then taste for seasoning and balance.


Keep well chilled until time to serve.


When CS and I attended a party hosted by our good friend, The King Of Pork, this was his potato salad, a classic version from our pals at Cooks Illustrated. I tweaked it just the tiniest bit, doubling the recipe for starters, and adding a couple little touches. But mostly it is just as they, and TKOP, made it, and it is quite simply the best potato salad I have ever had. Not gooey or soupy, tons of well-balanced flavor, and sure to be a hit for you as well!  My Dad is a true potato salad guru, and I made this for father's day and he loved it!




Potato Salad

(thanks to Times Union for the pic)

(adapted from Cooks Illustrated)


Serves 8-10



4 pounds russet potatoes (7-8 medium), peeled and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
table salt
4 tablespoons distilled white vinegar (can substitute white wine or rice vinegar)
1 c celery hearts, including tender leaves , chopped fine
4 tablespoons minced red onion or shallot (fine to sub a different onion flavor here, but the red onion or shallot offer a pretty little bit of color)
6 tablespoons sweet pickle relish (I drain mine for a moment so that it doesn’t add too much liquid)
1 cup mayonnaise (you can make your own, but I find Hellman’s to be the best. Light is fine here.)
1 1/2 teaspoon powdered mustard
1 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
4 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper (I use ground grains of paradise)
4 large hard-cooked eggs , peeled and cut into 1/4-inch cubes (optional)


Place potatoes in large saucepan and add water to cover by 1 inch. Bring to boil over medium-high heat; add 1 tablespoon salt, reduce heat to medium, and simmer, stirring once or twice, until potatoes are tender, about 8 minutes.


Drain potatoes and transfer to large bowl. Add vinegar and, using rubber spatula, toss gently to combine. Let stand until potatoes are just warm, about 20 minutes.


Meanwhile, in small bowl, stir together celery, onion, pickle relish, mayonnaise, mustard powder, celery seed, parsley, pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Using rubber spatula, gently fold dressing and eggs, if using, into potatoes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour; serve. (Potato salad can be covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days.)

These sesame noodles are one of my desert island dishes, I crave them fortnightly.  Lovely Doug makes bowls them every year for his Christmas Party, and I can't get enough of them.  He was kind enough to share the recipe, and I made just a couple small alterations for my palate.

Chilled Sesame Noodles
(adapted from my dear friend Doug!)

1 lb. linguini

2 T peanut oil
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup rice vinegar
6 T smooth peanut butter
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
1/2 tsp powdered ginger
1 tsp sugar (optional)
6 T sesame seeds
3 garlic cloves (or more) finely minced
1 tsp hot red pepper flakes (I often halve this, use what you like depending on how hot you want it)


Chopped green onions and sliced seedless cucumber for garnish


Cook the noodles; toss with 2 T peanut oil; set aside.


Mix together soy sauce, vinegar, peanut butter, sesame oil, ginger, sugar.

Toast the sesame seeds in a large pot. Remove and set aside to cool. In the same pot, saute garlic in 2 T peanut oil; add red pepper flakes and sauté for a minute or two. Add the noodles and the soy mixture. Toss and mix over medium heat just until heated through, and the noodles are well coated with the mixture. Cool to room temperature. Garnish with chopped green onions and sliced, seeded cucumbers. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.

(thanks to Recipe Girl for the pic)

I wish you and yours a terrific holiday weekend!  And don't forget, head over to Tuesday's post on Weeknight Entertaining, you have till midnight Monday to enter to win this cool set of serving bowls...

Yours in Good Taste,


The Polymath

The Parlor and The Kitchen- Cooking Magazines

Welcome to our new regular Tuesday feature, The Parlor and the Kitchen, posts devoted to all things cooking and entertaining. (Even if the only person you are cooking for and entertaining is yourself.

This is my opportunity to share my ideas for parties large and small, my favorite cooking tools and techniques, as well as lovely and functional items for home and table. Anything that makes my life easier, more pleasurable, or more filled with beauty.

Some things to be aware of with this and all future postings:

1. I am not paid for endorsing the items I write about. This is mostly because I am not famous enough to be worth any money for saying I like stuff.

2. I am totally open to being paid for endorsing items, so if any of you know people in the industry, feel free to recommend me as a spokesperson, I come very cheap.

3. When writing about gadgets or equipment or specialty ingredients, I do often accept samples or review copies to play with from the companies that produce them. I do not guarantee good press or favorable posts in exchange. I accept them happily since I am a freelance writer of meager means, which doesn’t mean I don’t want to tell you about cool stuff you might want to have! Besides, as things go along there will be fun contests with prizes, which will be sponsored by these companies, meaning you all get a shot at some cool free stuff. But it is important that you know that this is a full disclosure site. It is also important to know that if I write it, I mean it. No different than if you mom bought you a bag you love as a present and you tell all your friends how great it is. Just because I get to test stuff out for free, doesn’t mean I’m sweetening the post. Frankly, there are plenty of people who love to snark about stuff, and I certainly have my moments. These posts are only for the positive…I’m only interested in stuff that is worth having, and don’t want to waste writing time on stuff that doesn’t work.

4. I am very open to suggestions and input, so feel free to tell me about your own favorite things or things you have been thinking about and aren’t sure if they will work for you. Ditto recipe requests. I love to share recipes.

So, having said all of that, today I want to talk about one of my top ten cooking tools. It isn’t a special knife or a perfect pot or a genius gadget. It is cooking magazines.

I am a cooking magazine addict. I subscribe to: Bon Appetit, Saveur, Food and Wine, Cooks Illustrated, Fine Cooking (in which one of my “tips” was published not only in the mag but in their book!), and I miss Gourmet like a constant ache. I have, over the years, succumbed to Cooking Light, Pastry Chef, and others, but these were short flings, and didn’t stick in my permanent roster.

Now, chickens, you might well say “Who in their right mind needs to subscribe to five or six different cooking magazines?” And my answer is, YOU!

Well, you if you love to cook and entertain. If you don’t then obviously it won’t be much fun, but if you do, then these things can be your best friends. A terrific source for interesting ideas about food, foodie travel recommendations, hot new ingredients and easy to follow recipes. Plus pretty pictures! I find them deeply enjoyable, much more than other types of magazines. I get wonderfully inspired, and usually within a week of their arrival, have tried something new in my kitchen. Even if it is just buying a vegetable I usually ignore or trying a technique I’ve never tried, the magazines make everything seem new and shiny.

Without my years of cooking magazine reading I would not know about grains of paradise, my go-to-instead-of-black-pepper seasoning. I wouldn’t be a convert to using my slow cooker for more than just keeping things hot on a buffet. I would never have tasted Korean black garlic, mugolio sweet pine syrup, or Sicilian red grapefruit marmalade. I would not have learned about one of my favorite ways to cook new potatoes --boil till done, smash with the bottom of a glass till they look like splayed out carcasses, put on a sheet pan, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper (grains of paradise) and roast at 400 degrees until crispy…YUM!

My shelves are filled with useful cookbooks I bought because I loved the review in a magazine. There are tips and tricks I use all the time that I picked up in their glossy pages. I have cooked and adapted their recipes. They have led me to great tools, and kept me away from lousy ones. It is one of my grand ambitions to have my writing someday grace their pages.

In the meantime, let me recommend without reservations, the following:

Saveur- this is food porn of the highest order, and which is best, every recipe I have ever tried works like a charm. Gorgeous photography, well-written intelligent articles, and really useful info. If you can only subscribe to one glossy, this is it!

Cooks Illustrated Magazine- homey and rustic, one step up from a newsletter, but with serious research behind the articles. Best for useful tips and tricks, and for the “best of” recipes…basics made perfect by trial and error. Bonus, their website is amazing and totally worth the additional subscription cost.

Bon Appetit- with Gourmet’s demise, this becomes the new Grande Dame. It has gone through a makeover recently that I don’t adore, but the content remains solid. They are best for their less exotic recipes, if something sounds a little odd when you read it, don’t bother. But if it looks delish, it probably will be. A great mag for a newer cook who is ready to start branching out in the kitchen.

Fine Cooking- A lovely thin little waif of a mag, but with serious recipe punch. And a good source for interesting new ingredients.

Food and Wine- As my Charming Suitor is a pretty serious wine guy, this has recently become a much more interesting mag for me….I used to skip over a lot of the wine articles, but now I read them and find them much more interesting and useful than I previously assumed. But I always loved the food articles and recipes!

If you aren’t sure if one of these is for you, head out to the newsstand and pick them all up and try them out.

Or do what I do, and pick them all!

Yours in good taste,
The Polymath