The first potato salad of spring

This is a potato salad I put together to use some homemade mayonnaise I made. I prefer my potato salad not to have much mayonnaise, I put just enough to lightly coat. There are olives to add some sharpness. I think the olives worked really well. The adzuki beans were fine but it would probably be better with kidney beans. It was a crisp salad so maybe boil dry kidneys instead of using canned ones. One note is that I put the just-boiled potatoes in lemon juice and a little bit of mayo to soak in the flavor while they cooled. I have no idea of how much of the ingredients I used except that I used 2 ribs of celery.

New potatoes

Green beans

Celery

Adzuki beans

cherry tomatoes

Alphonso or Kalamata olives

Mayonaise

Lemon juice

salt

black pepper

paprika

Another sign of spring: one of the first crocuses that popped up in our neighborhood last week.

Pasta salad

We took this salad to a lovely concert in Millennium Park. There is not much dressing but we found it to be plenty with the basil, feta and olives.

1/2 lb mini penne (I think shells or rotini would work well too)

2 big kale leaves

1/2 lb broccoli crown chopped small

20 grape tomatoes halved

10 olives (I used Kalamata and Alphonso) diced

feta crumbled

fresh basil sliced fine

Dressing:

1/2 lemon

2 Tbsp red wine vinegar

3 Tbsp olive oil

thyme

oregano

pepper

ground mustard

salt

Cook the pasta in salted water. Add the broccoli 2 minutes before it is done. Drain in a colander lined with the kale. Let cool. Combine the ingredients. Dress with the dressing.

Dressing. Combine all ingredients except the oil. Let sit. Add the oil and stir well.

Grilled potato salad

I don't mind being the vegetarian at the barbecue. There are a lot of good veggie burgers (I'm partial to the spicy black bean ones) that make for quick, easy additions to the grill that I can enjoy when everyone else is eating burgers. But grilling is a great technique, and I feel like I shouldn't always be stuck with processed patties and the occasional grilled peppers on top. Last Friday, some friends invited us over to grill burgers for dinner. They had a bean burger in the freezer already, so I was covered, but I asked them to pick up some potatoes and tomatoes for a salad I had envisioned. We didn't have quite enough charcoal, and we started late, so we didn't get everything quite grilled to perfection, but I think this salad has serious potential. It's simple, but the nice grilled flavors from the potatoes and tomatoes are awesome. I'm sure it would be good with roasted veggies too, but there's something about cooking outside in 95-degree heat that makes food taste better.

Grilled potato salad

4 large baking potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch thick slices (I made wedges, but I think slices will work better next time)

4 tomatoes, cut into four wedges each

Canola oil for greasing the grill

1/4 cup chopped kalamata olives

Juice of 1 lemon, or more to taste
1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary, or more to taste

1 tbsp olive oil, or more to taste

Salt and pepper

Prepare the grill. Parboil the potato slices by heating up a big pot of water and boiling them until they are a bit firmer than you'd like, four minutes or so. Toss with some canola oil. Grease the grate of the grill with canola oil and place potato slices in a single layer on the grill. Cook until potatoes have nice grill marks on the grill side, then flip them over and cook on the other side. Grills vary a lot, so I won't give a time recommendation. Remove potatoes from grill, cut into bite-size chunks, and place in a large bowl.

When potatoes have finished grilling, place tomatoes on the grill, cut side touching the grate. Cook until they start to get some nice shriveling action going, then turn so the other cut side is down. When tomatoes are done, cut each wedge in half and add to the bowl with the potatoes. Add olives, lemon juice, rosemary, olive oil, and salt and pepper, all to taste. Eat warm while grilling whatever else is for dinner.

Moroccan-spiced olives

This is an easy way to jazz up jarred olives. They are nice as a little appetizer before dinner, especially if you're making other Mediterranean foods that night. Jon likes them even more than he likes garlic-stuffed olives, which is saying a lot. We often had olives spiced with fennel as an appetizer in France, but I got this particular spice blend from a Moroccan cookbook by Rebo Publishers. I omitted the garlic because I thought it would be too assertive and overpower the lovely spices.
Moroccan-spiced olives

1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp whole cumin seeds
1 tsp whole fennel seeds
1 tsp whole coriander seeds
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
Pinch ground nutmeg
Pinch ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups green olives
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp orange juice

Heat the olive oil, cumin, fennel, coriander, cardamom, nutmeg, and cinnamon in a saucepan over medium heat for about two minutes. The spices should be quite fragrant. Remove the pan from heat, add olives, and toss to coat. Stir in the lemon juice and orange juice. Refrigerate in an airtight container (like the jar the olives came from in the first place) for at least four hours before serving to let the flavors meld. These are best if served room temperature. When you've eaten all the olives, Jon says the leftover spiced olive/citrus juice is a good dipping sauce for bread.

Simple olive spread

I love salty snacks. I think it's kind of odd because in general I cook with very little salt and don't add much at the table. But I love pickles, olives, potato chips, French fries, tortilla chips, etc. Olive spread is great for my salt tooth. The Greek restaurant I loved in Waco had a similar spread, and it was addictive. I make mine with a mixture of black olives and kalamata olives to cut cost and amount of time you have to spend pitting olives. You can always add more kalamatas than I did. The pine nuts are just for texture. I've substituted peanuts before with no ill effects. You don't really need much olive oil. Just put a splash in there, and if it isn't processing well, add a little more.

Simple olive spread (adapted from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home)
1 jar pitted black olives, drained (probably 15 oz jar or so)
20 kalamata olives, pitted
1 clove garlic, peeled
2 tbsp pine nuts
1-2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil

Put everything in a food processor. Process it until fairly smooth. Eat it on pita, matzah, or whatever. It would probably be good on a vegetable sandwich with eggplant, roasted peppers, and cheese, but I haven't tried it. I kind of want to now, but I ate it all already.