American Potato Salad

Adapted from Julia Child’s The Way to Cook

I enjoy this potato salad because it offers a good depth of flavor for accompanying a wide assortment of grilled meats. You can dress up the dish by adding halved cherry tomatoes, pimentos, fresh chopped chives or chive flowers.

Put the warm potato slices into the bowl and toss gently with the liquid, onions, celery, pickle and seasonings to taste. Let steep for 10 minutes, tossing carefully 2 or 3 times. When cool, toss with the bacon, eggs, parsley and just enough mayonnaise to cover the potatoes slightly.

Potatoes Anna (Scalloped Potatoes Baked in Butter)

From Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom; by Julia Child (p.36)

Potatoes Anna truly reflects Julia Child’s love of butter. If available I’d suggest buying imported French butter or top quality domestic butter that has low water content. The better the butter, the sweeter the flavor in this simple dish that relies on the best of ingredients.

Serves 4-6 using two pounds of boiling potatoes.

Wash, peel, and cut potatoes into slices 1/4 inch thick. Place potatoes in cold water to prevent discoloring. When done drain and rinse again and pat dry with paper towels. Pour enough clarified butter into a 10 inch non-stick or seasoned cast iron pan to reach a depth of 1/4 inch. Set heat to medium and fill to bottom with a layer of potato slices, overlapping in concentric circles. Shake the pan to make sure the potatoes don’t begin to stick. Add butter slices over the first layer and continue with a second layer. Continue this process with the remaining potatoes. Let the potatoes cook for 3-5 minutes in order to allow a crust to form. Cover the pan, reduce the heat to low, and cook until the top layer is soft when pierced; make sure the bottom layer does not burn ( at most this should take 45 minutes, for smaller amounts of potatoes this could take as little as 15-20 minutes). Loosen the crusted potatoes from the sides of the pan and invert onto a serving dish – be careful not to spill too much of the hot butter.

Sabayon

Adapted from “Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home”

Sabayon or Zabaglione as it’s known in Italy, is a dessert custard that combines egg yolk and sugar with a fortified wine or spirit. Sabayon is unique from other custards in that you whip air into it to add lift. This is a very easy custard to assemble, but if you don’t use a balloon whisk very often, prepare for a little workout.

6 -8 servings

• 6 egg yolks
• 1 cup sweet Marsala wine, port, sherry, or Madeira
• 1/3 cup or more sugar
• lemon juice (optional)
• Fresh fruit such as strawberries, blueberries or raspberries for topping

Whisk eggs, Marsala, and sugar in the bowl of a double boiler. With a small amount of water simmering in the boiler, place the mixing bowl on top and whisk the sauce constantly until it nearly triples in volume, about 5 minutes. Taste the mixture and add a few drops of lemon juice or sugar, if you like. Spoon into dessert bowls or glasses and either serve warm or refrigerate for later. Top each glass with a modest portion of fruit.

The key to getting the best texture and air volume in your custard is to monitor its temperature so that it reaches near 180 degrees. Don’t let it get hotter or you run the risk of cooking the yolks. Better cooks can judge the temperature by touch, but I use my trusty cooking thermometer.

Don’t feel you need to stick with using Marsala. My best sabayon was made from a 50/50 mixture of dry white French vermouth and dark rum.