Rosemary Rutabaga Potato Salad

The trick to this tasty potato salad is making your own mayonnaise. At least, this is what I was told when I tried to buy some of this wonderful potato salad at my local Green Grocer recently and they didn't have any. (!) I was having such a craving though, that I did it. If I couldn't buy it a the deli, I'd make it myself!

Even though it's good
Potato salad looks gross
When in a picture

Ingredients:

For the mayonnaise:

• 1 egg, fresh; raw
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
  
• 2/3 cup canola oil
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• cayenne pepper
• salt

For the salad:

• 4 cups chopped potatoes
• 1 rutabaga, peeled and chopped
• 1/3 medium red onion, chopped
  
• 1 full sprig fresh rosemary, coarsely chopped
  
• freshly ground black pepper

1. Set the potatoes in a pot of water with a dash or two of salt to boil.
   
2. Meanwhile, in a food processor, combine the egg, 1/4 cup of oil, dijon mustard, lemon juice and vinegar. Blend until thoroughly mixed.
   
3. While blending, slowly drizzle the remaining oil into the food processor. The mixture will whip and thicken.
4. Once mixture is thick, add a dash or two of cayenne pepper and some salt. I used a chardonnay oak barrel salt just to be fancy. Mix and remove to a jar with a tight fitting lid.
5. Cool 30 minutes before using.
6. Toss the cooked potatoes and raw rutabaga together in a large bowl. Add the onion and rosemary and toss. Sprinkle with black pepper and set aside to cool.
7. Once cool, add enough mayonnaise to moisten the potato salad and set aside to be eaten later.

I was first warned against using a food processor to make mayonnaise because it could heat up and force the egg and oil to separate. After half an hour of mixing with a hand-held mixer, without having the mixture thicken, I decided a food processor was the way to go. I had no trouble with it heating up.

Mayonnaise recipe from my good friend Liz.
Potato salad recipe from the grumblings of my belly on missing out on the potato salad from City Provisions.
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Strawberry Mousse Parfait

Mmmmmmm. I think I have blogged about this before. Not here, and not including the recipe, so it is about time I shared it. I have been making this recipe for years. I cut it out of an issue of Gourmet magazine ages ago and find it so festive that I can't help myself sometimes and have been known to go to all the trouble (this was before I had an electric mixer and would whip the cream by hand) to make one serving of this just for me! Here though, is the recipe as I made it tonight to serve six. (To make one serving, cut all ingredients down to a quarter of what is required below and you'll have leftovers.)

Strawberries and Cream
A traditional delight
More complicated!

Ingredients:

• 5 cups of quartered strawberries
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 4 teaspoons lemon juice
• 3 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
• 6 tablespoons water
• 1 1/3 cups well-chilled heavy cream
• 1 cup coarsely crushed butter cookies

1. Mash 4 cups of quartered strawberries with lemon juice and sugar in a bowl. Dice the remaining strawberries and set aside.
2. Sprinkle the gelatin over the water in a small saucepan and let sit 1 minute to dissolve. Over low heat, stir the gelatin until completely dissolved. Stir gelatin and water into the mashed strawberries.
3. Place the bowl of mashed strawberries into a larger bowl filled with ice and water and let sit, stirring occasionally until gelatin mixture thickens and a spoonful holds its shape momentarily before returning to the rest of the bowl (about 10 minutes).
4. Whip the cream in another bowl until it just holds stiff peaks. Fold 2 cups of the whipped cream into the strawberry mixture. Fold in most of the remaining strawberries.
5. To build the parfait, in individual cups, or a bowl, as pictured here, layer mousse, cookie crumbs, mousse, cookie crumbs, mousse, remaining whipped cream, and garnish with strawberries.
6. Chill at least 30 minutes and serve!

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