Buttery New Potatoes with Garlic and Herbs

Buttery New Potatoes with Garlic and Herbs // A Thought For Food

For most of my life, I've made potatoes two ways: mashed or roasted. The idea of a boiled potato seemed rather uninteresting. I mean, how is it possible to impart any flavor when all you're doing is throwing them into some hot water. Then, a few years ago, I was introduced to Syracuse salt potatoes. Even though I studied at Syracuse University for a year, I only learned about them on a business trip out there. The small new potatoes were cooked in a large pot of very salty water with the skins left on. The result is a super creamy potato.

These, of course, are not Syracuse salt potatoes... but I thought about them as I was preparing this dish. I started with a bit more salt that I normally would in my water. Just like salting pasta water, this infuses the potatoes with a lot of flavor and helps break down the starches in the potato, giving them their creamy consistency. Once done cooking, they were given some tablespoons of butter (of course), minced garlic, chopped herbs (I used a combination of what we had in our garden), and a nice amount of coarsely ground black pepper.

What made this side even more special was where the potatoes came from. While we were in the Berkshires last week, Eric and I went out to visit our friends Heather and Matt at Sparrow Arc Farm in Copake, NY. I've had the pleasure of hanging with them a couple of times at various events and we hit it off immediately. They were so kind to take us around their property and explain what they're growing and their process (it's quite the operation). We went berry picking with their kids (check out this picture of their youngest after he devoured multiple handfuls of blackberries).Before we departed, Matt handed us two large bags of new potatoes, which I've enjoyed serving to family and friends over the last week.

Buttery New Potatoes with Garlic and Herbs // A Thought For Food

Buttery New Potatoes with Garlic and Herbs // A Thought For Food

Buttery New Potatoes with Garlic and Herbs // A Thought For Food

Buttery New Potatoes with Garlic and Herbs

Yield Serves 4-6

Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs new potatoes, scrubbed well and cut in half or quartered, depending on size
3 tbsps butter
1 garlic clove, minced
1 1/2 tbsps chopped fresh herbs (a mixture of tarragon, parsley, chive, and basil)
1/4 cup Kosher salt
Black pepper

Directions

1. Add the potatoes to a saucepan and cover with cold water until it's an inch over the potatoes. Season with Kosher salt. Bring to a boil and then reduce to medium-low heat. Cook for 6-8 minutes, or until tender. Drain potatoes in a colander.

2. Add butter to the used saucepan, along with the minced garlic and chopped herbs. Transfer potatoes back to the sauce man and toss to coat with butter-herb mixture.

3. Taste for seasoning, and, if necessary, add more Kosher salt. Season with a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper.

Heirloom Tomatoes with Garlic Scape and Basil Vinaigrette

Heirloom Tomatoes with Garlic Scape and Basil Vinaigrette // A Thought For Food

My family is in full swing with our summer reading contest. This has been going on for years, ever since my sister and I were old enough to get through a Curious George book on our own. She always took it a bit more seriously than I did and would make it through at least a half a dozen by the end of the summer, while I'd get through one or two. It wasn't until high school that I started getting competitive with her. After my senior year of high school, my parents took us to San Francisco for a week. While there is a lot that I remember from that trip (the Ghirardelli factory, walking through the Ferry Building Marketplace, dim sum in Chinatown), the two of us spent most of that trip with a book in front of our faces.

Between college and jobs and, you know, life, we've calmed things down a bit over the years. I no longer compete with my sister (a much faster reader than I am, I have no doubt she'll get through more books), but I still love this tradition. There have been recent years where I've only gotten through a couple. In the month of June, however, I managed to finish three. The first was a YA novel (I didn't know this until I'd already read a couple chapters and felt like it'd be the perfect book for a teenager) called Noggin. While the writing wasn't very challenging and the story wasn't terribly complex, the premise was creative and it had some strong characters.  The second was The Girl on the Train, which I found to be an engrossing mystery. The last was The Dinner, which, like The Girl on the Train, is told in the first person.

I'm currently making my way through All the Light We Cannot See. I won't go into much detail about the plot, but I will say that the writing is some of the best, maybe the best, I've ever read. Every sentence is loaded with detail. That's not to say that it's verbose. Quite the opposite, in fact. Every word adds new depth to the experience, as if you're watching a painting or a photograph being developed before your eyes. It's a magnificent experience and I'm trying to take my time with the book so that I can savor it.

Of course, none of this has anything to do with tomatoes. Except that they both exist in the summer. I've been enjoying tomatoes in a variety of forms, but my favorite preparation is as a lightly dressed salad or sliced and served on top of rye bread. For this dish, I included garlic scapes two ways: in the dressing and simply sautéed. It's nothing revolutionary, but, hey, it works.

Heirloom Tomatoes with Garlic Scape and Basil Vinaigrette // A Thought For Food

Heirloom Tomatoes with Garlic Scape and Basil Vinaigrette

Ingredients

2 lbs heirloom tomatoes
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped garlic scapes
1/4 cup basil, packed
3 tablespoons Champagne vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon
Kosher salt
Black pepper

Directions

1. Cut tomatoes into wedges (four or five, depending on the size of the tomato) and transfer to a bowl.

2. Make the dressing by placing 1 cup chopped garlic scapes, the basil, vinegar, olive oil, and 1 teaspoon of salt into a blender (or use an immersion blender). Blend until pureed.

3. Toss the tomato wedges with the dressing and set aside.

4. Set a small skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Cook remaining chopped garlic scapes for three minutes, or until slightly softened. Sprinkle on top of tomato salad.

5. Season salad with more salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste.

Watermelon Shrub Spritzer

Watermelon Shrub Spritzer // A Thought For Food

June has been an interesting month. I wasn't expecting to be busier than I was in May, but, gosh darn, my butt has been kicked. In addition to all the projects, we also had things to celebrate. Eric's birthday and our anniversary fall on the same week, so we went out to dinner not once, but three times to celebrate (hey, that's how we roll). There were times when I thought, "You know what? Let's just put this whole blog thing on hold for a few weeks." But as soon as a little free time presented itself, I was in the kitchen, my camera not too far out of reach. I just can't help myself.

I've had this shrub in my head for months now. Ever since Tabasco contacted me about being a part of their Tastemaker Program, I knew that one recipe I'd want to develop was a shrub. Seems like a natural fit. One of the three major ingredients in a shrub is vinegar, as is the case with Tabasco's hot sauce. A watermelon shrub immediately came to mind. It wasn't until I tasted the final result, though, that I realized how perfectly it all came together. Yes, there's a subtle kick, but what most stands out is the salt in the Tabasco that allows the sweetness of the watermelon to pop.

Tequila is my go-to spirit (Don't get me wrong. I love bourbon and gin, but agave-based spirits are what I order most at bars). While I'm not one for a watermelon margarita, I felt like the shrub would be more of my scene; zingy, both in the heat from the Green Pepper hot sauce and the vinegar, a little sweet, as well as the green notes from the tequila and green pepper. What I wasn't quite expecting was how addictive it would be. Especially on a hot summer day, these are dangerously easy to suck down. I guess that's the sign of a successful cocktail.

I can't end the post without sharing my delight in the news that the Supreme Court ruled to legalize same-sex marriages in all fifty states. It took me a few days to process everything. Eric and I are personally effected, because now we can go anywhere in the country and our marriage will be recognized by the state. But what really hit me hard was knowing that future generations won't see gay couples as anything other than two people who love each other and, if they choose to do so, get married. That, for me, is a beautiful thing.

"“All men are created equal. No matter how hard they try, they can never erase those words. That is what America is about.” -Harvey Milk

Watermelon Shrub Spritzer // A Thought For Food

Watermelon Shrub Spritzer // A Thought For Food

Watermelon Shrub Spritzer // A Thought For Food

Watermelon Shrub Spritzer // A Thought For Food

Watermelon Shrub Spritzer // A Thought For Food

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Tabasco. Over the course of the year, I will be creating recipes featuring the Tabasco Family of Flavors and this is the first of those posts. All opinions expressed on my site are my own.

You can check out my recap from my trip to visiting Tabasco here and my recipe for Smokey Shrimp Burgers here.

Watermelon Shrub Spritzer

Ingredients

For the shrub
3 cups fresh watermelon puree (using a blender or immersion blender)
3 tablespoons Tabasco Green Pepper Sauce
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup sugar

For the watermelon shrub spritzer
2 oz tequila blanco
1 oz lime juice
1.5 oz watermelon shrub
Watermelon (cut into 1 inch cube), for garnish
Lime zest, for garnish
Seltzer water

Directions

To prepare the shrub

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the apple cider vinegar, Tabasco Green Pepper Sauce and sugar until sugar has dissolved. Slowly stir in the watermelon puree.

2. Strain mixture through a sieve.

To prepare the cocktail

1. In a cocktail shaker, add the tequila, lime juice, and watermelon shrub, along with three ice cubes. Shake for 10 seconds and strain into a highball glass filled with ice cubes. Top with seltzer water.

2. To prepare the garnish, fold a strip of lime zest in half and skewer onto a toothpick, followed by the watermelon cube, and another strip of lime zest.