I had to go to a training course for work and one of the ice-breaker questions was: what was the weirdest thing we had eaten. I won't divulge mine unless you ever meet me - but one lady said it was Dutch Slaw. Once she described it, it sounded similar to something I had seen a chef make, which was what he called German Potato Salad.
While thinking of side dishes for the What Katie Ate Next's Ribs, I suggested German Potato Salad and I got a very quick YES! I found a recipe for this on Budget Bytes' website, which I have used before for Dragon Noodles and was a great success, so I'm hoping this will be one too.
Yay or Nay: YAY!
This was delicious! I was dubious about adding the bacon fat to the final salad but I think it made it more bacon-y! I mean who doesn't love bacon?! This was tangy and not too heavy - I did smash the potatoes as I had cut them smaller to speed up cooking so they were a little on the mushy side and harder to cut. I don't think it affects the final taste too much.
I did use balsamic and regular distilled vinegar instead of apple cider vinegar like the recipe asked, but I didn't have any and wasn't about to take a trip to the supermarket to get one thing! The balsamic did have a stronger taste, but with a sweeter aftertaste. I'll have to try this with the apple cider to see the difference!
New and inventive ways of cooking a potato? Yeah not much comes to mind apart from mashing, boiling and roasting so when I saw the recipe for hassleback potatoes in April's Rachel Ray Everyday Magazine I was sold. Pimpin' up your regular potato was just what the doctor ordered! I chose the Garlic and Parm version as it was what I had left in the fridge and did not require that much cheese (yes, I'm cutting back).
Yay or Nay: Nay
When prepping for this side dish it all looked promising, from the cuts that made the potato fan out prettily or the delish combo of garlic, oregano and oil (I substituted the butter for olive oil), I was truly disappointed that it did not live up to its expectations. Yes, when it came out it smelled and looked great but the flavour wasn't full enough (I didn't have time to brush the herby oil, cook and then brush again). The potatoes didn't cook all the way through and the parm was barely detectable. Maybe it was because I used grated parm rather than shaved and different potatoes (possibly differet size too) that gave me such poor results. It'll be a while before I consider making these again.
As soon as I moved to the U.S. I needed something from home to rustle up dinners while I wasn't working. I remember seeing Jamie do his thing on TV with Gado Gado. It looked delicious on screen and I had never tasted something like this before, so when I needed some inspiration I knew this was the dish to try. First, I had to buy the book, later I realised I could've just looked up the recipe online. Duh! What did we do before the internet?
Yay or Nay: Yay
Sorry, the photos are a little skewed! This was a combo of pictures from my last two tries of this recipes. Obviously the ingredients don't match but that's the beauty of Gado Gado, you can mix and match ingredients BUT keep the dressing the same! I substituted the green beans for Thai basil which I had leftover from Pho (although I think I had some Vietnamese coriander in the first pics). Anywho, it was all good, made even better with the nutty tangy dressing which is the star!!
