Wednesday 28 May 2014

Potato Salad with Dill and Dijon Mustard

Potato Salad with Dill and Dijon - Easy Tasty Salad Recipe with Greek Yogurt and Whole Grain Dijon on ToriAvey.com
Spanish explorers introduced potato salad to Europe during the 1500s. The earliest versions were made from boiled potatoes mixed with wine or vinegar and spices. The America version we are familiar with arrived with European settlers. The earliest recipes for potato salad were published during the mid 1800s and were made by coating boiled potatoes in a dressing made from vinegar, oil and herbs. Culinary historians believe this mixture was influenced by German cuisine, which tends to be a mix of spicy, sour and sweet. Mayonnaise was likely introduced to potato salad recipes around the 1920s and 1930s when brands like Best Foods, Miracle Whip and Hellman’s rose in popularity.
I made this potato salad over the weekend for Memorial Day and was reminded how delicious it is. When the weather warms up and we start our yearly outdoor feasting, this is one of my go-to chilled salad recipes. It’s evolved a bit over the years; I used to make it with mayonnaise only, but recently I started subbing half the mayo for Greek yogurt to lighten it up a bit. I think the substitute actually improves the flavor, and it definitely cuts down on calories. Whole grain Dijon mustard and fresh dill are game-changers here, they take an otherwise ordinary potato salad recipe to a whole new level. Don’t use regular Dijon mustard, the flavor is too sharp for this recipe. Whole grain is milder.
My husband loves this salad, he calls it “dangerously good.” Dangerous, because once we start eating it we can’t stop! If you’re making this for a barbecue or sharing at a picnic, you can easily double the recipe to feed more people. Looking for a dairy-free recipe? Substitute mayo or vegenaise for the Greek yogurt. Enjoy!
Potato Salad with Dill and Dijon - Easy Tasty Salad Recipe with Greek Yogurt and Whole Grain Dijon on ToriAvey.com

Potato Salad with Dill and Dijon

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 lbs red new potatoes cut into 1-inch chunks (peeled or unpeeled)
  • 1/4 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise or vegenaise
  • 3 tbsp chopped fresh dill, minced
  • 1 1/2 tbsp white wine vinegar or champagne vinegar
  • 1 tbsp whole grain Dijon mustard (make sure it's whole grain!)
  • 2 1/2 tsp sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt (or more to taste) plus 2 tsp salt for potato cooking water
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper (or more to taste)
  • Sprig of fresh dill to garnish (optional)
Prep Time: 45 Minutes
Total Time: 1 Hour 15 Minutes
Servings: 4
Kosher Key: Dairy
  • You can use peeled or unpeeled potatoes in this salad. If you decide not to peel them, make sure you scrub them very well to get rid of any residual dirt. Boil 3 quarts of water with 2 tsp salt. Add the new potato chunks to the salted water and bring back to a boil. Simmer for about 10 minutes until they become fork tender. Keep a close eye on them to make sure they don't overcook. As soon as they are tender, drain the potatoes, return them to the warm pot so they will dry out, and let them return to room temperature.
  • In a bowl, whisk together Greek yogurt, mayonnaise, fresh dill, vinegar, whole grain Dijon mustard, sugar, salt and pepper to make a dressing.
  • Potato Salad with Dill and Dijon - Easy Tasty Salad Recipe with Greek Yogurt and Whole Grain Dijon on ToriAvey.comPlace the cooled potato chunks in a salad bowl. Add dressing. Stir gently to combine until all potato pieces are evenly coated with the dressing. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired.
  • Potato Salad with Dill and Dijon - Easy Tasty Salad Recipe with Greek Yogurt and Whole Grain Dijon on ToriAvey.comChill salad in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Serve cold.
  • Note: This recipe is gluten free when you you use GF-certified packaged products. To make the recipe dairy free, replace the Greek yogurt with mayonnaise or vegenaise.
  • Potato Salad with Dill and Dijon - Easy Tasty Salad Recipe with Greek Yogurt and Whole Grain Dijon on ToriAvey.com

Sunday 25 May 2014

Tarragon Recipes


Tarragon Pronounced: TEHR-uh-gon

An herb with narrow, pointed, gray-green leaves with a distinctive anise or licorice flavor. Only the leaves are edible. Tarragon is excellent with seafood, fruits, poultry, eggs and most vegetables, as well as sauces, particularly bearnaise sauce. Tarragon can easily dominate other flavors, and care should be taken when using tarragon. Tarragon leaves should be used fresh, as the aroma of dried tarragon is usually very weak. French or german tarragon is sweet and aromatic, reminiscent of fennel, anise and licorice. Russian tarragon has coarser, paler leaves and is not fragrant and tastes slightly bitter. The french variety is most often used in cooking.

Ingredient

Season: available year-round

Matches well with: artichokes, bearnaise sauce, carrots, chicken, eggs, fish, lobster, mushrooms, onions, potatoes, rabbit, salads, shellfish, sole, spinach, stuffings, tomatoes, veal

Béarnaise sauce



Béarnaise sauce
Bearnaise.JPG
Béarnaise sauce. The basic sauce is smooth; chopped herbs were added to finish it.
Alternative names
Choron sauce
Place of origin
Paris, France
Main ingredients
egg yolkclarified butter, white wine vinegar
 Cookbook:Béarnaise sauce   Béarnaise sauce
Béarnaise sauce is a sauce made of clarified butter emulsified in egg yolks, white wine vinegar and flavored with herbs. It is considered to be a 'child' of the mother Hollandaise sauce, one of the five sauces in the French haute cuisinemother sauce repertoire.[1] The difference is only in their flavoring: Béarnaise uses shallotchervilpeppercorn, and tarragon, while Hollandaise uses lemonjuice or white wine. Its name is related to the province of Béarn, France.
In appearance, it is light yellow and opaque, smooth and creamy.
Béarnaise is a traditional sauce for steak.[2][3]

History

The sauce was likely first created by the chef Collinet, the inventor of puffed potatoes (pommes de terre soufflées), and served at the 1836 opening of Le Pavillon Henri IV, a restaurant at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, not far from Paris. Evidence for this is reinforced by the fact that the restaurant was named for Henry IV of France, a gourmet himself, who was born in the province of Béarn.[4]

Preparation


A Béarnaise sauce is simply clarified butter, an egg yolk, a shallot, a little tarragon vinegar. It takes years of practice for the result to be perfect.[5]
Like Hollandaise sauce, there are several methods for the preparation of Béarnaise sauce. The most common preparation is a bain-marie method where a reduction of vinegar is used to acidify the yolksEscoffier[6] calls for a reduction of wine, vinegar, shallots, fresh chervil, fresh tarragon and crushed peppercorns (later strained out), with fresh tarragon and chervil to finish instead of lemon juice. Others are similar.[7] Alternatively, the flavorings may be added to a finished Hollandaise (sans lemon juice). Joy of Cooking[8] describes a blender preparation with the same ingredients. A faux Béarnaise can be produced by adding capers and tarragon to a Hollandaise.[9]

Derivatives of Béarnaise sauce

  • Sauce Choron is a variation of béarnaise without tarragon or chervil, plus added tomato purée.[10][11] It is named afterAlexandre Étienne Choron.
  • Sauce Foyot (a.k.a. Valois) is béarnaise with meat glaze (Glace de Viande) added.[12][13]
  • Sauce Colbert is Sauce Foyot with the addition of reduced white wine.[14]
  • Sauce Paloise is a version of béarnaise with mint substituted for tarragon.[15]

Mis-association

Béarnaise sauce is often referred to as Bernaise sauce, as if it were from Bern, the capital city of Switzerland, which is in no way connected with this sauce or its origins.[16] The sauce's name refers to the Béarn region, a former province now in thedépartement of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, in southwestern France.

Notes

  1. Jump up^ The family is sometimes referred to as "mayonnaise sauces" as they are, like mayonnaise, based on the emulsion of an oil in egg yolk.
  2. Jump up^ Escoffier: 89
  3. Jump up^ Julia Child
  4. Jump up^ Bearn
  5. Jump up^ Restaurateur Fernand Point (1897–1955) in Ma Gastronomie.
  6. Jump up^ Escoffier: 89
  7. Jump up^ Cookwise, pp.304-5
  8. Jump up^ Joy of Cooking p.359
  9. Jump up^ Cookwise, pp.302-3.
  10. Jump up^ Escoffier: 90
  11. Jump up^ Joy of Cooking p.359
  12. Jump up^ Escoffier: 91
  13. Jump up^ Joy of Cooking p.359
  14. Jump up^ Escoffier: 41
  15. Jump up^ Escoffier: 141
  16. Jump up^http://www.cookthink.com/reference/2617/What_is_Bearnaise_sauce

References[edit]

  • Child, Julia; Louisette Bertholle; Simone Beck (1961). Mastering the Art of French Cooking. New York: Knopf.
  • Escoffier, Auguste (1982) [Trans. fm 4th French (Flammarion) ed. 1921]. "Ch. 1: Sauces". La Guide Culinaire [The Complete Guide to the Art of Modern Cookery] (in French). English translation by H.L. Cracknell and R.J. Kaufmann (First American ed.). New York: Mayflower Books. ISBN 0-8317-5478-8.
  • Rombauer, Irma S.; Rombauer Becker, Marion (1975). Joy of Cooking. New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc. (MacMillan). ISBN 0-02-604570-2.

Bearnaise Sauce

Total Time:
15 min
Prep:
5 min
Cook:
10 min

Yield:4 to 6 servings 

Ingredients
1/4 cup chopped fresh tarragon leaves
2 shallots, minced
1/4 cup champagne vinegar
1/4 cup dry white wine
3 egg yolks
1 stick butter, melted
Salt and pepper
Directions
Make the bearnaise reduction first. In a small saucepan, combine the tarragon, shallots, vinegar and wine over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer and cook until reduced by half. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Blend yolks and bearnaise reduction together. With the blender running, add 1/3 of the butter in a slow steady stream. Once it emulsifies, turn the blender speed up to high and add the remaining butter. Season with salt and pepper and set aside in a warm spot to hold the sauce.


Tuna Tarragon Pasta Salad



Total Time:
Prep Time:
Cook Time:
30 mins
15 mins
15 mins

DRESSING
1 cup mayonnaise or 1 cup salad dressing
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon lemon juice or 1 tablespoon vinegar
1 tablespoon dried tarragon
1 tablespoon dijon-style mustard
1 teaspoon sugar (1 to 2 teaspoons, to taste)
SALAD
2 (12 ounce) cans tuna in water, drained (or albacore)
2 cups frozen green peas, no need to thaw
1 lb shell pasta, cooked to al dente, drained and cooled
1/4 teaspoon salt (to taste)
1/8 teaspoon pepper (to taste)

Orange Roughy With Tarragon and Vegetables

Total Time:
Prep Time:
Cook Time:
25 mins
10 mins
15 mins

Ingredients:

Servings:
4

4 orange roughy fillets
1 zucchini, julienned
1 small red pepper, julienned
1/2 cup red onion, sliced
2 carrots, julienned
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons fresh tarragon, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
Directions:

1
Preheat grill.
2
Heat oil in large skillet and quickly cook vegetables (about 2-3 minutes on a medium-high heat).
3
Take four large pieces of aluminum foil. Place one piece of fish on each.
4
Top with 1/2 tablespoon butter, 1/4 of the vegetables and 1/4 of the tarragon.
5
Repeat for the other pieces.
6
Wrap tightly and place on grill.
7
Grill over a medium heat for 12 - 18 minutes. Open carefully because the steam can be very hot.


Chicken Salad with Tarragon


Inspiration for good food can be found anywhere, even Starbucks, where I had a delicious chicken salad sandwich recently. The key ingredients other than chicken? Cranberries and tarragon. French tarragon is a distinctive herb, with a slight anise or licorice aroma. We don’t use it that often; I grew some last year and don’t think we used it more than once or twice the whole season. But it does pair well with chicken. The dried cranberries add some sweetness to the chicken salad, and the lemon juice just enough acidity to brighten all the flavors.
 Tarragon Chicken Salad


Total Time:
Prep Time:
Cook Time:
50 mins
20 mins
30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings:
5
Units: US | Metric
4 chicken breasts
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 celery ribs
1/4 cup walnuts
1 tablespoon dried tarragon
salt and pepper
Directions:

1
Bake (~25min) or boil chicken breasts (~45min) until tender and cooked through.
2
Cut breasts into bite-sized pieces.
3
Discard skin and bones if you did not use boneless, skinless breasts.
4
Whisk sour cream and mayonnaise together and pour over chicken.
5
Add celery, walnuts, tarragon, salt and pepper to taste and toss well.
6
Refrigerate and enjoy!