Potato Salad #1: Warm Potato Salad with Bacon, Radicchio, Blue Cheese and Avocado

Well, the title pretty much explains it all ... other than a couple of ingredients to make a vinaigrette the ingredient list is all there!

To be clear, this is not my first potato salad!  I've made many before and posted the recipe for my go-to potato salad last year.  But I have recently been inspired to try a few new potato salad recipes so this is a challenge to myself.  At least five new potato salads by the end of the summer ... and realistically, I probably won't even try another one until I can use some of my own potatoes which are just starting to sprout.






Although I did plant two in a container several weeks ago which are much further along:

So potato salad challenge underway ... but in the meantime, here is potato salad #1.

The bacon and blue cheese combo are probably familiar to many and I've added avocado and radicchio as well.  It's pretty loose how much of each ingredient to include but I've noted the few ingredients that I measured.


Ingredients:
4 slices bacon
1 1/2 pounds new potatoes
1/2 tsp grainy mustard
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 small head radicchio
2 avocados
Lemon juice
Blue cheese





Place potatoes in a baking dish.  Fry bacon until crisp; remove bacon and pour fat over the potatoes.  Bake potatoes at 375 degrees F until tender.

Roughly chop the radicchio and set aside.  Crumble the bacon.  Cube the avocado - place in a small bowl and squeeze lemon juice over top to avoid the avocado browning.

In a large bowl, combine mustard and vinegar.   When potatoes are ready, add them (while still very hot) into the bowl and toss several times.  Because they are still hot, they will absorb some of the vinaigrette.

Add the radicchio which might wilt slightly from the heat of the potatoes.  Add the bacon and toss together.

Serve with warm with cubed avocado and crumbled blue cheese.

I'd love to know about your favourite potato salads; I might just give one a try!

Avocado and Egg Salad Crostini

I've seen the combination of egg salad and avocados pop up a few times over the past year but it did not appeal to me at the time.  But with 2 avocados on their way out and a fresh batch of farm eggs recently purchased, I decided to give it a try.  And I am very glad I did!  So delicious and extra creamy! 


Everyone has their own way of hard-boiling eggs.  I start large eggs in a pot with enough water to cover them by an inch or so.  Bring the water to a boil and allow to boil for exactly 2 minutes then immediately remove from heat.  Allow to sit in the water for about 17 minutes.  Rinse under cold water.   Store in fridge until ready to use.  The yolks should be a bright yellow, not grey!






Ingredients:
Sliced baguette or other small bread slices
3 large hard-boiled eggs
2 ripe avocados
1-2 Tbsp yogurt or mayonnaise
Lemon
S&P









Toast the bread slices (I used mini whole grain buns that I had on hand).








Mash egg and avocado together with a fork then add mayo (or yogurt for lower fat) and season to taste.  Squeeze a bit of fresh lemon juice in for extra flavour.  Top with cilantro if available.

Avocado, Black Bean and Wilted Greens Quesadilla

This isn't so much a recipe as throwing together a bunch of great ingredients for a very quick meal.  A healthy and delicious meal!  I love the greens added just after the quesadillas are removed from the pan so they are only very slightly wilted and still have some good texture. 

Makes 6-10 tortillas (folded in half).

Ingredients:
1/2 medium white onion, sliced
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
Avocado slices
Cheddar cheese, grated
Greens (I used arugula and baby spinach)
Salsa
Lime
Corn Tortillas
Sour Cream

Saute the onions until softened then add the black beans and heat through.  Add a squeeze or two of lime juice for flavour plus a pinch of salt.

In a fry pan, heat a small amount of oil.  Prepare the tortilla by layering (on one half) some avocado slices (salt lightly), black bean/onion mixture, grated cheese and a teaspoon or so of salsa.   Fold the tortilla in half and place in fry pan. Lightly brown on each side and ensure the cheese is melted.

As soon as the quesadilla is removed from the pan, add a small amount of the mixed greens.  The cheese will still be hot so it should easily pull apart to add the greens.  Then fold it back together and the greens will very lightly wilt from the heat.

Serve with sour cream and more salsa.

Best Breakfast Ever (a.k.a. Baked Egg in Avocado)

Experience the awesomeness of baked avocado!  Both the avocado and egg provide healthy fats and nutrients, but the addition of bacon or cheese will make it that much yummier.  The larger the avocado the better as it is difficult to fit a large egg into a small avocado half.


Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  For each individual serving:

Cut one avocado in half (as evenly as possible) and remove the pit.  Scoop out most (but not all) of the flesh - you need to create as much room as possible but you need some flesh both for taste and to avoid overcooking the egg from the underside.






Sprinkle a pinch of salt, then break an egg, into each half.  I broke each egg into a small bowl to better manage this step.  I actually scooped the yolk into the avocado half with my fingers, then scooped in as much egg white that would fit.  Even with this step, some of the egg white spilled over the edge; my avocado was not as large as it should have been.



Bake for about 12-20 minutes - it depends so much on the size of the avocado and egg, but also how firm you like the yolk.



At 14 minutes, my small avocado and egg seemed firm on top but the yolk was still runny when I cut into it.









Top with chives and fresh ground pepper.  Serve with bacon bits, cheese (which can also be added during baking) and salsa or hot sauce.  And plenty of toast for dipping.

Avocado Barley Risotto

This is recipe #2 for my health-minded friend who wants to eat avocados but doesn't like the texture.  Normally I would use arborio rice for this type of risotto but I wanted to give it an extra health kick with the barley.  I love it!  The technique for making risotto makes a creamy dish anyway, and the avocado just adds to the creaminess.

I served it with some sugar snap peas from my garden (I could only scrounge a handful of minis) and shrimp.  I think it would work equally well as a side with lamb or prime rib.

Ingredients:

Olive oil
1/2 cup of minced red onion (I whizzed it in the food processor)
2/3 cup pearl barley
2 limes
1/4 cup white wine
3-4 cups veggie or chicken stock, warmed
2 avocado
3 garlic cloves, minced
Parmesan cheese
S&P

This follows the regular risotto technique of adding the liquid slowly to absorb.  It's more important when using arborio rice as the slow cooking allows the rice to release its starches and get good and creamy.   But even for barley, which is not starchy (or not as starchy as rice anyway), this technique seems to make the dish creamier compared to boiling the barley and tossing it all together.

Keep the stock on low heat.

In a large pan, add about 1-2 Tbsp olive oil, and saute the minced onion.  After 5-8 minutes when it has softened, add the barley and stir for 1-2 minutes.  Squeeze in the juice of 1/2 a lime.  Add the wine.  Stir again, and allow the wine to be absorbed (some will also just evaporate).  Add a pinch of salt.

Add a 1/2 cup of stock at a time, allowing the barley to absorb the liquid before adding more (don't let it fully dry out, just mostly absorbed).  Continue to add about 2 1/2 cups at which point it should be at least "al dente".

In the meantime, mash the avocado with the garlic and juice from the remaining 1 1/2 limes and a pinch of salt.

When the barley is "al dente", stir in the mashed avocado mixture.  Give a taste and adjust seasoning as needed - you'll likely need more salt than expected, but this tastes great with lots of pepper as well.  Continue to add liquid in smaller increments until it reaches a creamy texture.

Add some grated parmesan at this point based on your taste, or add cheese when serving.  Garnish with sliced green onions and finely diced tomatoes.  Serves 2 as a main or 4-6 as a side dish.

The shrimp and snap peas were sauteed with butter, garlic and a pinch of salt.

Baby Spinach Salad with Avocado Dressing

A friend of mine is interested in eating a healthier diet, which is something we can all relate to from some point in our lives.  So she wants to eat avocados for the health benefits (I'm not a nutritionist, but I do know they are darn good for you!).  However, she doesn't like the texture.  Yes, they have a lot of fat, but it's mostly monounsaturated, so the good kind!  And for me, the fat makes them very creamy, but I know not everyone likes that.

Of course, guacamole was my first thought, but then that tasty dip usually gets eaten with some cheesy nachos.  So for something a bit healthier (and I say "a bit healthier"), I wanted to try avocado in a salad dressing. Oooh ... it's delicious, and so was this salad I put it on!  I can't believe I've never made this before.

My strawberry harvest gets bigger every time I pick (which might suggest I should pick them more often), so this basketful of strawberries made me think of having a spinach salad, as they often go together. 

I actually had planned to make this salad for an upcoming potluck we have at work.  But potlucks, especially when you are at work and have to keep the dish by the side of your desk all morning, should be about simplicity - single dish items where possible.  And I just couldn't bring myself to toss all of the ingredients together HOURS before eating.  Besides, this is the kind of salad where everyone should get to decide how much of each ingredient they want.

For that reason, I've offered no amounts here, just pick and choose which ones you like and how much of it works best for your taste.  The dressing recipe is just mashed avocado mixed into my typical vinaigrette - so tangy the way I prefer.  Lots of recipes call for yogurt making a creamy dressing rather than a tart vinaigrette - plenty of options on the internet if you prefer a different style.

Salad Ingredients:
Baby spinach
Fresh strawberries, sliced
Blue cheese, crumbled
Pecans (or walnuts)
Bacon, crumbled
Avocado, sliced



Avocado Dressing:
Use blender, food processor (or fork) to combine 1/2 avocado mashed, 2 Tbsp olive oil, 3 Tbsp red wine vinegar, 1 tsp dijon mustard, and S&P to taste. I also added some water to thin it out.

I had forgotten about the bacon on the stove top until I had already finished the salad. Awesome without it, but I suspect equally or more awesome with it.  And I added avocado slices, which of course defeats the purpose of my friends request for avoiding that avocado texture, so easy enough to just leave out.  And there are plenty of other ingredients that could be added in such as finely sliced red onions, sliced mushrooms (I personally hate raw mushrooms but they seem quite common on spinach salads) or cherry tomatoes.

I'll be having another one of these salads very soon.