Potato Salad

Steam for 25 minutes:

• 2 lb red potatoes (1/2-1" cubes)
• 1/2 lb russet potatoes (1/2-1" cubes)
• 1/2 lb carrots (chopped smaller than the potatoes)

Rinse the vegetables under cold water until the water coming out the bottom of the colander is cold.
Put the vegetables in a pretty big bowl.
Add:

• 2 stalks of celery, thinly sliced
• 5 relatively large radishes, thinly sliced
• about half of a 24 oz jar of dill pickles, quartered long-ways, and chopped short-ways
• the green parts of a couple green onions, chopped small
• 7 hard-cooked eggs, chopped (because our egg steamer holds 7, and why not fill it up?)

At this point, the big bowl was completely full.  So I got out a huge (over 6 qt.) mixing bowl, and in it combined:

• 1 cup mayonnaise
• about 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• about 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• about 1/2 teaspoon salt

I put about a third of the potato mixture into the dressing mixture and combined them until everything was combined.  Do this gently, with more of a "folding" motion than a "stirring" motion, so as not to smash the potatoes, eggs, etc.
Then I poured it all back into the "big" bowl, covered it with plastic wrap, and put it in the refrigerator to chill overnight.
Before serving, I plan to sprinkle the top with paprika.

The other day, as my husband and I were talking about food and dietary needs and restrictions, he mentioned that he prefers to have some meat along with his pasta.  That statement immediately made me think about Chicken Cacciatore.  And I already had all of the ingredients on hand!

So this morning, I pulled out a couple of cookbooks that I knew had a recipe.  Then I was curious how many cookbooks I have with that recipe.  Turns out, it's six.

(As a side note, I really don't need any more cookbooks.  It's just that there are so many more cookbooks that I want!)

Chicken Cacciatore

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into three pieces each
paprika, salt and pepper
olive oil (a couple of tablespoons)
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1/2 cup white cooking wine
about 1/2 lb. mushrooms (2-3 cups, sliced)
1 1/2-2 cups chicken stock
1 (14.5 oz) can diced (Italian style) tomatoes
1 (12 oz) can tomato paste
1 bay leaf
a couple of teaspoons dry basil
about 1 tablespoon rinsed capers
15 huge green olives, stuffed with garlic and jalapenos, sliced into three pieces each
a few sprigs of fresh oregano
a sprig of fresh thyme
a couple sprigs of fresh rosemary
a small handful of fresh parsley

Here's a picture of most of the ingredients:

Sprinkle both sides of the chicken pieces with paprika, salt, and pepper.
Heat the olive oil in a very large pan.  (I love my enameled cast-iron dutch oven!)
Brown all sides of the chicken.  Take the chicken out of the pan and set aside.
Saute (or cook, stirring often enough that they don't burn) the onion, celery, and garlic in the pan until the onion is mostly cooked.
Add the mushrooms and continue to cook for a couple of minutes.
Add the wine.  Stir it around, and use it to scrape up any bits that have stuck to the bottom of the pan.  Let it cook off some of the liquid.
Add the tomatoes, stock, tomato paste, bay leaf, and basil, and stir it up.  Put the chicken back in, and make sure it's down into the sauce, so it will cook.  Cover, reduce the heat to medium-low, and let it simmer for a bit.
Add the capers, olives, rosemary, thyme, and most of the oregano.  Continue to simmer until the chicken is cooked through.
Sprinkle the parsley and the rest of the oregano on top, and serve with noodles and hard cheese.  (My favorite is pecorino romano.)

Well, I created a profile, so I should start blogging, right?
My wrist is sore today, so I didn't do anything fancy, but here it goes!

I didn't take any pictures of what I cooked today, but here's one of where I got lettuce for our salad.  My little garden is doing quite nicely.

In addition to salad, we had baked chicken and mashed cauliflower.  Both are extremely easy.

Baked Chicken

Pre-heat the oven to at least 350 degrees F.  

Cut up a whole chicken, or take pre-cut chicken pieces.  

Spray a baking dish with olive oil.  Put the chicken pieces in the baking dish.  Spray them with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  

Bake for 30 minutes.  Turn the pieces over sprinkle the other side with salt and pepper, and bake for another 15-20 minutes (until the internal temperature is at least 170 degrees F).  

(If you manage to time it right, and take them out at 170 degrees, cover with foil and let rest for 5-10 minutes so the internal temperature comes up to 180 degrees.) 

Mashed Cauliflower

Cut a whole head of cauliflower (or as much of one as you can fit into your steamer) into florettes.  

Steam them for about 25 minutes.  

Dump them into a bowl.  Add a few tablespoons of butter (and salt, if you used unsalted butter).  

Mash.  (I use a hand-held immersion blender.  If you use a potato masher, you might need to steam the cauliflower longer.)

My husband prefers more salt than this, but he adds it at the table.