The Endive Chronicles

Sorry for the random photo of my dishes! The movers come on Monday and my house has been turned upside down, inside out and may possibly have been hit by a small centralized hurricane. I have made this recipe a thousand times before, but I just couldn’t find time this week. When I am all settled in Seattle I promise to post a picture.

On to what we are really here for, my Smoked Salmon Potato Salad.

As Memorial Day grows ever closer many of you will be dusting off your barbecue or possibly attending the first parties of the season. This could present a bit of a problem as I imagine that several of you will be in need of a really fabulous side dish. This year forget the sketchy glop that passes for potato salad at the grocery store and give my Smoked Salmon Potato Salad a try.

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I have this great friend Leslie who is incredibly understanding, laughs at all my jokes and even kept my cheeseburger secret when I fell off of the vegetarian* wagon. Leslie has a level head, gives sound advice and as a wonderful cook makes a terrific sounding board for my new recipes. Several months back we were discussing creativity in cooking when she said something that has resonated with me ever since. She said that while she dearly loves bacon, she feels that many recipes use it as a crutch; sort of a cop out from creativity.

Now before anyone feels the need to step in and defend bacon’s honor, I should say that neither of us were attacking bacon and both are what some would call bacon enthusiasts. What really struck me about what she her words was the word “crutch”. It got me thinking, how often do I just toss on in a handful of parm or another go to ingredient to round out a recipe instead of forcing myself to be creative. Am I relying too much on a limited range of ingredients to get me through? Cooking is about discovery and creation, not limitation. Just because I make a fabulous crepe it doesn’t mean that I should ignore a wide world filled with papadams and moo shu wrappers.This week I am diversifying my repertoire with the addition of adzuki beans, quinoa and spelt.

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As I mentioned in last weeks post, we made a trip out to Lucy’s Whey on a chevre hunting trip. What I did not mention was that I came away with much more than the Hoja Santo chevre for my tart. I also brought home blue cheese from Georgia’s Sweet Grass Dairy, Fiscalini cheddar and a little packet of plump, moist dried strawberries. I have a love of dried fruit and as we drove away my first instinct was to tear into the packet like a wolverine. Instead I decided to exercise a little restraint and create a special recipe in which to enjoy them.

I went through a number of ideas as I pondered what to do with my plump, sweet little treasures. My first instinct was to create a scone recipe, but Ina Garten already did that. Then I thought I’d go all cheffy on you with a platter of dried strawberries artfully arranged with swirls of balsamic syrup and clouds of rosemary cream. Sure it would have been pretty, but it’s been done to death. In the end I decided to create a recipe that would help integrate these little jewels into everyday cuisine and so, this weeks recipe was born.

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