What are You Cooking the Week of May 20, 2018?

[Joan Simpson]

Tonight we had fried chicken,left over black eyed peas and potato salad.

[BakerAunt]

Friday morning, I made a half recipe of Mike Nolan’s mother’s potato salad. I used two eggs, since I did not want half a hard-boiled egg left. I used 2 Tbs. of celery seed, which is the amount halved of the original posted recipe. I used green onions instead of regular, as my husband prefers them. I accidentally put in 2 Tbs. of red wine vinegar rather than 1 Tbs.; I was distracted because my husband was talking to me. I had to use yellow potatoes, as I did not want to go back to the store. I followed Mike’s cooking suggestion, and they came out well, although they tend to be slightly less firm than red potatoes. I reduced the salt in the half recipe from 1 tsp to ¾ tsp. While I know that it should rest overnight, we will start eating it tonight, along with a rotisserie chicken we picked up on the morning’s grocery run. (They mark down the ones that were left over from the day before.) I think that our menu, along with the dessert I baked this morning, are perfect for the start of the Memorial Day Weekend.

[Mike Nolan]

I don't think it's possible to have too much egg in this potato salad. 🙂

[Joan Simpson]

Made spaghetti and meat sauce with garlic toast for supper.

[RiversideLen]

Today I put a bottom round roast on the BBQ, made sure to use a minimal amount of charcoal so it would cook slow. I seasoned it with smoked paprika, some fresh ground pepper and a little salt. It turned out tasty.

[Mike Nolan]

It hit 100 today here, so we did burgers on the grill, could almost have done them on the deck, because it gets up to about 130 on a day like today.

[BakerAunt]

We are having hot weather in northern Indiana as well. I've been very glad the past two days to have cold chicken and potato salad, and a cooked a side vegetable in the microwave.

I will cut back on the celery seed in the potato salad next time. It seemed somewhat bitter. However, my celery seed is quiet old (as in, I-don't-recall-when-I-bought-it-old), and there is only a bit left. I just ordered some more from Penzey's, so I will do a sniff test when it arrives, before throwing out the old stuff. I did some internet sleuthing, but I could not find any suggestion that celery seed can go bad.

[Mike Nolan]

Celery seed does have a bitter aftertaste. Although I suppose it's possible it could go rancid, as nearly all seeds have some oil in them, I suspect it's just a bit too pungent for your taste.

I buy it in 16 ounce packages, and it can take me several years to use that much.

I have been using celery seed in a lot of dishes lately, as I continue to experiment with ways to replace salt in recipes, I often pair it with dill. I think it also pairs interestingly with poppy seed, which I think is underutilized as a seasoning, as it is often relegated to being used only as a topping on breads, in salad dressing, and in some desserts.

Something I've started to do is to write the date on packages of spices and herbs when I buy them, usually on the bottom with a permanent marker.

[BakerAunt]

Thanks for commenting, Mike. Now that I think about it, two of the recipes that I make that use celery seed--sloppy Josephines and four bean salad--also have sugar in them, so that may be why I never thought of celery seed as being bitter.

I also use it in my clam chowder, which has no sugar, but I don't use a lot.

While exploring the topic on the internet, I found a recipe for Celery Seed Bread--it seems to be made like garlic bread, only it does not use garlic.

I also found some anecdotal comments that celery seed can help lower blood pressure, but I did not see any scientific study to back up the assertion.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 11 months ago by BakerAunt.

[navlys]

I grilled some marinated chicken breasts which I sliced to top our salad dinner. I used spring mix, cucumber, sugar snap peas, cherry tomatoes, grapes, feta cheese, rana sausage ravioli cut into thirds and homemade balsamic salad dressing with fresh basil and chives. Pfew! I served it with my potato sourdough bread.

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