Potluck a la Martha

It's prime potluck season, and the June issues of Martha Stewart Livingand Everyday Food are loaded with easy, unique, portable dishes.

For this summer's first potluck invitation, I turned to both magazines for new twists on classic cookout favorites: potato salad and loaf cake.

Red Bliss Potato Salad with Blue Cheese, Bacon and Chives
Serves 4 to 6
from "Martha Stewart Living", June, 2008

• 1 1/2 pounds Red Bliss potatoes
• 3 tablespoons coarse salt
• 1 1/2 ounces Danish blue cheese, plus more for garnish
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon fresh chives, plus 1 teaspoon for garnish
• 8 bacon strips, cooked until crisp and crumbled

1. Place potatoes and the salt in a medium saucepan. Cover with water, and bring to a simmer. Cook until a knife pierces through potatoes with little resistance, about 12 minutes. Drain, and let cool slightly. Halve potatoes.
2. Meanwhile, mix blue cheese, buttermilk, vinegar, and mustard in a bowl until well combined.
3. Combine potatoes, dressing, chives, and almost all of the bacon in a large serving bowl. Garnish with blue cheese, chives and remaining bacon.

I wasn't able to locate Red Bliss potatoes, so I substituted red creamers which worked fine.

This is a perfect make-ahead dish, as the dressing does better when it has time to set for a few hours in the refrigerator.


Coconut-Pineapple Loaf Cake
Serves 10
From "Everyday Food", June, 2008

• 1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pan
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 can (20 ounces) pineapple chunks in juice, drained well

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread coconut on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until lightly toasted, tossing occasionally, 6 to 10 minutes; set aside. Butter and flour a 9-by-5-inch (8-cup) loaf pan; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
2. Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Reduce speed to low, and alternately add flour mixture in three parts and sour cream in two, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix just until combined (do not overmix).
3. Using a rubber spatula, fold pineapple and 1 cup coconut into batter. Spoon into prepared pan, and smooth top; sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup coconut. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 65 to 70 minutes (cover pan with foil halfway through). Let cake cool in pan 15 minutes. Remove from pan, and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. (To store, keep at room temperature, wrapped in plastic, up to two days.)

As you can tell from my photo, I should have been a bit more careful with toasting my coconut. If you get overzealous like I did, you should probably cover the cake with foil for the entire baking time.

While yummy on its own, I think this cake would be really great with this hot buttered rum sauce recipe.

Martha Stewart's Potato Salad - Perfect for Memorial Day BBQs

With the long Memorial Day weekend finally here, people all over will be firing up their BBQ and planning picnic menus. Never fear, our domestic diva is ready for us, mixing up a batch of her Potato Salad on the Today Show this week. If the recipe isn't enough for you, you can catch the video right here.

Basic Potato Salad
Recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart
Serves 8

Potatoes make satisfying side dishes in all seasons, summer included. What would a picnic be without potato salad? Opinions on which ingredients are essential to potato salad can vary (maybe your must-include is hard-cooked egg, or diced onion, or sweet pickle relish). Regardless, the starting point must be a basic recipe that promises a good outcome every time. My stripped-down method does just that -- all the salad needs are creative additions to make it your own.

INGREDIENTS
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 3 pounds waxy potatoes (such as Yukon gold or new), scrubbed and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
• 1/3 cup white-wine vinegar
• 4 scallions, white part minced, green part thinly sliced
• 3/4 cup light mayonnaise

DIRECTIONS
Set a steamer basket in a Dutch oven (or large pot with a lid), and add enough salted water to come just below basket; bring to a boil.

Place potatoes in basket, cover pot, and reduce heat to a gentle simmer. Steam potatoes, gently tossing occasionally, until tender, 15 to 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine vinegar, scallion whites, 1 teaspoon coarse salt, and teaspoon pepper.

Add hot potatoes to vinegar mixture; toss to combine. Cool to room temperature, tossing occasionally, about 1 hour.

Add mayonnaise and scallion greens to cooled potatoes; mix gently to combine. Serve, or cover and refrigerate up to 2 days.

TIPS
- For a potato salad that doesn't end up mushy, use waxy potatoes, which keep their shape better than starchy baking potatoes.
- For even cooking, make sure the potatoes are cut into uniform pieces.
- For a hint of sweetness, add a pinch of sugar to the vinegar mixture. For extra tang, sub in sour cream for some of the mayonnaise.
- For warm-weather picnics, make a no-mayo version: replace the mayo in my basic recipe with 1/2 cup olive oil whisked with 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard.
- For balanced flavor, keep your mix-ins simple (but still be creative). I like celery and hard-cooked egg. Take it easy on salty and acidic ingredients (combining, say, pickles, capers, and olives would be too much).

Mix-and-Match Mix-Ins (add after salad cools)
Sliced celery
Diced red onion
Sweet pickle relish
Chopped pickles
Slivered green olives
Capers
Chopped herbs
Chopped hard-cooked eggs
Crumbled bacon