Tangy Potato Salad

Potato salad is one of those summer sides that, in theory, should be delicious.  Yet, in practice, it usually ends up mushy, over-mayo'd, and flavorless.  I wanted to make a potato salad that still tasted like it had potatoes in it, lightly dressed with a tangy dressing.  The first step was to find the right potato.  To keep the potatoes from getting mushy and falling apart, I needed to pick a variety with low starch - enter the red potato.  I added a bit of vinegar to the potato-boiling water to keep the starches from releasing to the surface of the cut potato slices.  As to the dressing, ditch the jar of mayo and pull out your blender.  The extra 30 seconds it takes to throw a few ingredients in the blender or food processor and press "on" really make a world of difference.

M&M Cookies

M&Ms were invented in the 1940s by Forrest Mars, who got the idea for the candy-covered chocolates after witnessing soldiers in the Spanish Civil War eating chocolates covered with a hard tempered-chocolate coating.  He patented the idea and started manufacturing in New Jersey in 1941.  The original colors were red, yellow, brown, green, and violet.  Red was replaced with orange in the 1970s due to the Red #2 scare, but was added back in the late '80s.  The current colors are brown, yellow, green, red, orange, and blue.  Dark chocolate M&Ms - the ones used in this recipe - were first introduced in April of 2005.  This recipe would also be delicious with the pretzel, peanut butter, or original varieties.

Guacamole and Micheladas

Happy Cinco de Mayo!  Cinco de Mayo celebrates the Mexican army's victory over the French in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.  It's celebrated mostly in the United States and, other than Puebla, is pretty much ignored in Mexico (or so I've been told).  To commemorate the day, I whipped up my oft-requested guacamole and my favorite Mexican beverage, the Michelada, a cerveza preparada with beer, lime juice, and chile paste.  ¡A comer!

Cook: Poached Eggs with Ramps, Bacon, and Beans

Ramps are wild leeks, found only in spring and usually only at farmers markets.  I picked some up at the Union Square Greenmarket on Saturday and decided to saute them with bacon and butter beans, topped with a poached egg, over toasted sourdough bread (also from the Greenmarket).  The result was a complex layering of flavors, perfect for a hearty Sunday brunch (but the recipe only takes 15 minutes to make!).