Spring deserves a new foodie thread

[Sharon]

Our Easter dinner was not vegetarian but, as they often are, the vegetables were the highlight. We had a leg of lamb -- I had the butcher remove the bone. I browned it all over, then rubbed it with a mixture of lemon zest, garlic, rosemary and Dijon mustard. Usually I would open the roast and put all that good stuff inside, then roll it up again. But the butcher had done such a beautiful job of rolling and tying, I couldn't bear to undo it. I then put it in a very low oven and slow-roasted it for several hours. It came out tender and juicy and pink.
 
I made potato caponata; it's from a recipe in a cookbook that I bought last summer in Florence. It's so good. I made it a couple of months ago and posted a photo of it on Facebook and I got more comments on that than on anything else I'd ever posted.
 
Because there are so many good things in the potato caponata, I just served a light salad with spring greens, tiny tomatoes, red onion, clementine slices and a dressing based on lime juice, orange juice, mustard, olive oil.
 
And for dessert? A white chocolate-lemon cheesecake.
 
Oh yes, and William's favourite appetizer: tomato bruschetta. (He thinks I make it better than many of the fine restaurants do!)
 
So it was all good. (Let me know if you want more details about the caponata. I wish I knew how to post a photo here.)

[Antonia]

Details on the caponata please!!!

[lagatta]

Yes, I'd also love details on potato caponata - a variation I've never heard of, much less eaten.

Sharon's meal sounds lovely.

[Sharon]

Potato caponata is easy -- it just has a lot of ingredients. I guess that's why it's so tasty! It displays so well too -- on a platter or. . . I used a pasta bowl. I lightly roasted the pine nuts and the almonds before adding them. Here it is:
 
½  cup olive oil (for frying) (That’s way too much)
1 ½  lb. waxy potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 celery sticks, chopped
generous ½  cup pine nuts
2/3  cup blanched almonds, coarsely chopped
generous ½  cup raisins
1 cup green olives
1 large pear, peeled, cored, cubed
1 tbsp capers
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
salt
½  cup canned tomatoes (I used chopped fresh tomatoes)
1 tbsp finely chopped oregano
1 red chili pepper seeded and sliced (optional for garnish)
 
Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Fry the potatoes until lightly browned 5-10 minutes. Remove from the pan using slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Heat the extra-virgin olive oil in large frying pan over medium heat. Add the onions and celery. Sauté until they begin to soften, 3-4 minutes. Add the potatoes and mix well. Add the pine nuts, almonds, raisins, olives, pear, capers, sugar and vinegar. Season with salt. Mix gently and then add the tomato and oregano. Cover and simmer over low heat until the potatoes are tender. Garnish with chili pepper and serve hot or at room temperature.
 

[Toedancer]

 

[lagatta]

The potatoes seem to take the place of the traditional melanzane/aubergines/eggplants. I've made caponata (which is sweet and sour) without using white sugar - don't remember what I used - concentrated fruit juices? I haven't made that in about 20 years. My thesis adviser was Sicilian, and often made caponata.

[Boom Boom]

Can't peel potatoes with these hands anymore, so I'm using rice more.

[lagatta]

This should go in "What hurts?" but you should be able to get a "home helper" from health and social services - if you want to eat potatoes, that is. One of the rare things that hasn't been cut, at least in Québec - and funding for various forms of home care, and support for so-called "natural caregivers", has actually increased here.

I often don't peel potatoes anyway, but you'd want to for this recipe.

[Sharon]

I actually didn't peel them -- even for this recipe. I scrubbed them with a stiff brush but you can even get some potatoes nowadays that just have to be rinsed and chopped before cooking.
 
The cookbook that I mentioned -- that I bought in Florence -- is nothing but potato recipes, a dream come true as I love potatoes and I'm always looking for new ways to do them. As I flip through it, I can see that most of the recipes wouldn't require peeled potatoes. They're fairly rustic recipes.

[Boom Boom]

Yes, this should be in the 'what hurts' thread, but we're here now, so...  I applied for Home Care through my social worker, but was turned down last month. The doctor is trying again, explaining it's kind of an urgent situation with me.

[lagatta]

Yes, it is rare that I peel potatoes, and usually I just use a stiff brush on them. The layer just under the peel has most of the vitamin and mineral content, and the peel itself is good fibre - which I find easy to digest, unlike some other peels or outsides of vegetables and fruits. Many potatoes today are mechanically "pre-washed", removing all but the inner peel - then I just rinse them. Those are handy but don't keep nearly as well as potatoes with all the peel and a bit of dirt, straight from the farm.

There is a stand at Marché Jean-Talon with nothing but potatoes, many varieties. The market I go to in Amsterdam also has a potato vendor. Of course the Dutch eat a lot of potatoes, perhaps even more than the Germans as their national dish is a stampot - a mash of potatoes and another vegetable, often kale, similar to the mixed mashes of Irish and Scottish cuisine. And don't use the same kind of potatoes for stampot and friets!

Boom Boom, I really hope that can be worked out - if you can't cook or properly do dishes etc (I'm sure there are some cleaning chores you can't do now, and I'm talking about hygiene, not fussy stuff). Where you live you can't buy the ready meals you could in Mtl or Ottawa - those aren't very nutritious anyway, often laden with bad fats, sugar or HFCS, and of course far too much sodium. Loblaws and their other banners sell many varieties of these - tempting, but less so if one reads the label.

A really nice potato recipe category is layered dishes - like scalloped potatoes or a Dauphinoise - but with other foodstuffs between the potato layers, like a potato lasagne. Takes a bit of time but a nice company dish.

[Antonia]

Thanks for the recipes! And I can't remember the last time I peeled a potato. I suppose I would if I were to make mashed but it's not a fave of mine. in fact, I love baked potato skins.

[Boom Boom]

I'm the odd one out, I guess - I've never cared for potato skins at all, and I love mashed potatoes - especially made with sour cream and rutabaga. When I have baked potatoes - rarely - I never eat the skins. Can't swallow them, and don't care for the taste.
 

 

[lagatta]

Well, a potato and neeps mash is a specific Gaelic (mostly Scottish) dish, and if I recall potatoes and cabbage were above all Irish? Though poor Celtic crofters had to pretty much mash together what they had.

I hadn't made mash in years, until I spent quite a bit of time in the Netherlands, where stampot (a mash of potato and another vegetable, most often the nutriional superfood kale, which is a dark-green bitter cabbage) is a national comfort food. It is usually served with a big horseshoe-shaped smoked sausage, shared among eaters (a bit like a Polish Kielbasa) that would usually be pork, though I've seen Halal and Kosher versions made from other meats, and in the East Amsterdam neighbourhood where I stay now, have definitely had non-pork Halal Rokworst (if I recall the spelling correctly ... German tends to interfere).

Mandos will be familiar with a lot of the Halal charcuterie we eat (it is good, not very fatty, and cheap) as most of it comes from Germany.

I've never seen vegetarian pseudo Rokworst, though there are very good vegetarian copies of other porky Dutch and German stuff such as liverwurst. I often buy the vegetarian liverwurst when I'm there, to spread on bread and crackers.

[Boom Boom]

Well, a potato and neeps mash is a specific Gaelic (mostly Scottish) dish, and if I recall potatoes and cabbage were above all Irish? Though poor Celtic crofters had to pretty much mash together what they had.

Me mudder's parents were of Scotch origin. Taters and nips were a mainstay growing up.