Grilled Potato Salad with Herbs and Spices

Believe it or not, but this Grilled Potato Salad was inspired by Indian food:  stir fried potatoes with dill (not traditional but this is how Mom makes it), and cucumber raita; a simple yogurt sauce with a few spices and freshly shredded cucumber.  Those are just two examples of everyday Indian food, and they are really tasty. So, I started to think hey, potatoes go well with cumin and I just kept building from that point.  


In this recipe I coated red and yukon gold potatoes with olive oil, and grilled  them to develop a slightly charred taste, and meanwhile, I made a yogurt sauce with a few tablespoons of mayo, toasted cumin, a pinch of chili powder, rosemary, dill, parsley, lemon, and red onion. Traditional potato salads have a mayo base, but I really like the creamy texture and tangy flavor from yogurt. You can built all kinds of sauces and dressing with yogurt! If  you don't have all of these herbs, don't fret. Parsley is just fine. Or any other kind of herb, use your imagination. I simply used what was in my fridge, and you should do the same.  


Grilled Potato Salad with Herbs and Spices
Serves 4


Ingredients


2 medium size red potatoes
2 medium size Yukon gold potatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil (ordinary, not extra virgin) 
1 cup fat free yogurt (low fat is my preferred choice, but fat free is what I had)
2 tablespoons fat free mayo* (see note)
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/4- 1/2 teaspoon red chili powder
1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped + extra for garnish
2 teaspoons fresh dill, finely chopped
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste


Directions


1.) Cut potatoes into two halves, and slice each half down to 1/4 inch thick slices.
2.) In a mixing bowl, toss the potatoes with the oil and start cooking on a grill pan over medium-high heat. 10 minutes on the first side, flip and grill and additional 5 minutes.


*Some slices will take less time than others so pull them off the grill and set them on a plate lined with paper towel to cool. 


For the yogurt sauce:


3.) Toast the cumin seeds in a small skillet over low heat for 2-3 minutes until you see a deeper brown color. Grind in a mortar pestle or spice grinder. 
4.) In a large mixing bowl add the yogurt, mayo, freshly ground cumin powder, red chili powder to your taste, red onion, parsley, rosemary, dill, fresh lemon juice, and pepper. Check for seasoning and decide if you would like salt, if you do, add it in at this point. 


5.) When the potatoes are light gold in color and soft to the touch they are done. You can allow them to completely cool, or you can proceed. (Leave a few pieces behind for garnish.) 


6.) Toss the potatoes in the yogurt sauce and garnish with parsley and reserved grilled potato slices. 


**NOTE**: Generally, fat free products have extra additives in them to compensate for the flavor that comes from full fat. I don't particularly suggest using fat free ingredients, but fat free mayo was purchased by mistake for this recipe. Low fat or full fat is much better, and it is healthier in a sense because you won't find any extra processors added. Go for low or full fat if you can; if you're using full fat mayo, moderation is key, and this recipe only calls for 2 tablespoons.    

Garnished with an over done slice of potato! ;-)

Priyanka

Broccoli Salad with Mustard-Tarragon Vinaigrette

Recently, I attended a potluck party where every one had to bring a dish to share. I noticed that the majority of the people were demolishing a particular glass bowl full of broccoli salad. I walked over to catch a glimpse of it, and goodness it looked amazing. And the taste was fabulous. It was creamy, sweet, and crunchy, but I had a modest portion of it because it was smothered in mayonnaise. Jeez, mayo makes everything taste better! And you shouldn't be afraid to use it. Still, remember the fact that mayonnaise is a full fat ingredient so if you were to use it you must use it in moderation. Luckily, a little bit often goes a long way. 

I thought I could shave down the calories by creating a new broccoli salad in my own kitchen that didn't sacrifice flavor. However, I didn't use a mayo base at all in this salad because I found such fresh herbs in my fridge; so I decided to stick to an extra virgin olive oil to play up the ingredients. The low fat mayo sauce I came up with is going to be used on a coleslaw, that'll be coming soon!

This broccoli salad is ridiculously simple to make. I kept it simple because I have found myself pressed for time more this semester, my final semester, than my previous years in school. So, you will be steaming broccoli in your microwave for 5 minutes, and during those 5 minutes you will be creating a zesty sauce with Dijon mustard, stone ground mustard, fresh tarragon, white wine vinegar, olive oil, and garlic. You'll also be toasting some almonds to top the salad with at the end. Broccoli is a very cooling vegetable, and mustard is bitter, and tarragon has a licorice note to it. So, if you feel the need to add a touch of honey or sugar to this go right ahead. I left it out because I liked the strong savory flavor. This is healthy, easy, inexpensive, and an excellent way to inject more veggies in your diet.

Broccoli Salad with Mustard-Tarragon Vinaigrette

Serves 5

I n g r e d i e n t s

1 pound broccoli florets, chopped to bite size pieces

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 clove garlic, finely minced                                                                           

1 tablespoon stone ground mustard

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

½ tablespoon white wine vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoon tarragon, chopped

¼ cup almonds, coarsely chopped (or slivered almonds)

D i r e c t i o n s

1.) Rinse the broccoli florets with cold tap water, shake off the excess, and transfer to a large microwaveable bowl; preferably one made of glass.

2.) Microwave the florets partially covered with a lid for 7 minutes.

3.) Over a medium low heat, toast the almonds in a nonstick sauce pan until lightly bronzed, about 4 minutes. Keep your eye on it so they do not burn.

4.) Meanwhile, grab a medium size mixing bowl and whisk the oil, garlic, stone ground mustard, Dijon mustard, white wine vinegar, salt and pepper until it is one homogenous mixture. Gently stir in the tarragon; by doing this you avoid allowing the herb to bruise and turn black.

5.) When the broccoli florets are done steaming in the microwave add the scallions and toss everything in the vinaigrette and sprinkle over the toasted almonds.  

BLACK BEAN SALAD with FIRE ROASTED CORN and APPLE CIDER VINAIGRETTE

I love that this salad offers simplicity through its ingredients, but complexity in its taste. Buttery black beans, fire roasted corn, sweet red bell peppers, crunchy gala apples, and creamy bits of avocado are completely smothered in a tangy cumin-scented vinaigrette. Many people have their own version of a black bean salad, but I really wanted to make one that brought sweet, salty, and sour flavors in harmony. It’s also very budget friendly. You can save even more money if you purchase the dried black beans, cook them, and separate them into plastic bags; then store them in your freezer for later use. You get twice the amount of black beans for half the price. Now, there is some prep involved here, but extra servings can keep well for a few days—just keep the avocados and apples out and store the vinaigrette in a separate container. Add these just before serving. I recently served this at my coworker's baby shower and it was a huge hit.

Serves 4

Ingredients

1-15oz canned black beans, rinsed, (2 cups)

1 cup or 2 ears of fresh corn

1/2 cup red onion, diced

1/2 cup fresh avocado, diced

1/4 cup roasted red bell pepper, chopped

1 cup gala apple, diced (or your choice of any sweet apple, tart apples are fine too, if you wish)

1 tablespoon jalapeno, chopped, deseeded (or seeds in tact if you like heat)

2 tablespoon canola, or extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons ground cumin powder

2 teaspoons honey

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Directions

Turn stove top flame on to medium high heat, and begin fire roasting the corn until all sides are lightly charred. This can take anywhere from 3-10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

In a mixing bowl, add the beans, onion, avocado, bell pepper, jalapeno, and apples. Leave this alone for a few minutes while you work on the corn.

Use a small paring knife to slice the kernels off of the fire roasted corn. Add these to the bowl and toss everything together.

In a separate (small) bowl, add the oil, apple cider vinegar, honey, salt, pepper and whisk until this vinaigrette is completely emulsified. It should be smooth, you know, look like ahomogenous dressing. If you peeked down at the side of the bowl, you should not be able to spot the division between the vinegar and oil.

Taste, adjust seasoning if necessary. Add the vinaigrette to the bowl and toss. Serve immediately.

Priyanka

Spiced Tarragon Chicken Salad with Cranberries

At one point, I had lived in this phase where I would have Arby’s Chicken Salad Sandwich for lunch almost every day. It was delicious, no doubt. The flavor from the toasty pecans, crisp tart apples, and burst of sweetness from the red grapes all mixed in with chicken made a very satisfying meal. But truth be told, there was so much mayonnaise in there that I felt like taking a nap after eating it—my stomach was over worked breaking down all fat. I’m not one of those people that says "no" to fat. Fat is good. You need fat to feel satisfied. However, it’s important to eat the right fats and reasonable amounts of it because it is very easy to go overboard.

Arby’s Chicken Salad Sandwich has about 870 calories per serving, 47 grams of fat, 7 grams of saturated fat, 1380 milligrams of sodium, and 33 grams of sugar. It’s safe to say this is a high calorie and high sodium sandwich. This hasn’t stopped me from eating it, I’ll often have half of the sandwich, but then I’m left hungry. So then what was the point of eating only half of it when I wasn't happy doing so? I decided to create my own version of a chicken salad that is much healthier. I’m proud that my mindless repetitive activity of roaming around in the kitchen and throwing ingredients into a steel mixing bowl produced this chicken salad recipe. Although it may not be the first of its kind, because I know some of the ingredients have been used in a chicken salad before, it is quite tasty. And I don’t claim to be a chef, but if you like chicken salads, and you are looking for a healthier recipe; I think I can help you out.

Tarragon Chicken Salad with Dried Cranberries

Tarragon is such a fantastic herb. It has such a unique aroma. My favorite part of this recipe is just chopping it up. It has this delicate scent, sort of a licorice and anise like fragrance that I find therapeutic and a bit invigorating as it wafts through the air. Whatever you do, don’t leave this out of the recipe. It truly adds that “pop” of flavor. It’s easier to find these days, and I love it so much that I decided to grow it . It’s flourishing in a small clay pot this very moment. For this recipe, I threw in the addition of traditional Indian spices, weird I know, but the earthiness of cumin and the warmth from coriander is very faint yet it adds that background flavor that I think is essential. These spices are often used in raita, an Indian yogurt dip, I thought it would be neat to add it to this chicken salad. Pecans are buttery, so I decided to use walnuts because of the dry toasty note that it adds to the salad. The oils from the walnuts is all you need to enhance their flavor, toast them in a dry skillet for a few minutes before adding them in. Instead of grapes, I thought the addition of dried tart fruit would be nice. If you’re looking for an extra tart flavor, skip the dried cranberries and substitute with dried cherries. The cranberries are a bit sweeter. On a side note, chicken thighs are more moist and tender than the breast. Yes chicken thighs are higher in fat, but no worries--the only problem I have is with the skin. If you're vegan, leave out the chicken and try plain soy yogurt instead. If you're a vegetarian leave the chicken out completely. But ultimately you decide how you want to enjoy this.

1 cup cooked chicken thigh or breast, skinless, boneless, cubed into 1 inch or smaller pieces

1 ½ cup low fat greek yogurt

1/3 cup walnuts, toasted, chopped

1 ½ tablespoon tarragon, chopped

1 ½ tablespoon parsley, chopped

2 stalks celery, diced

¼ cup dried cranberries or cherries

1 tsp lemon zest

1 tsp lemon juice

2 cloves garlic, minced (try grating it in)

¼ tsp coriander

¼ tsp cumin

¼ tsp salt

½ tsp Pepper

Method:

Place two coffee filters in a sieve, and hang this sieve over a bowl. A cereal bowl works fine. Add the low fat yogurt into the lined sieve. The idea is to drain the liquid and separate the protein and whey in the yogurt. Basically, you're making Greek yogurt. For a fraction of the cost. If you're lazy, like most people, go ahead and buy it. If you're broke, this is your thing to do.

Leave this in the refrigerator to drain for at least 3 or 4 hours. Even better if left overnight. The longer it drains the thicker it becomes, over night you have a "yogurt cheese" consistency.

When the yogurt is ready, add the salt, pepper, cumin, coriander, lemon juice, lemon zest, and garlic. Taste to check seasoning. Adjust if needed.

My advice is to start with one clove of garlic--for some, two cloves can be pretty potent.

Add the toasted walnuts, tarragon, and parsley. Stir.

Tumble in the chicken, celery, and cranberries.

Serve with crusty buttered whole grain bread, or form into a sandwich. You can even leave out the chicken and use it as a dip. There are no rules.

Enjoy my friends!