David Ross

Yes so many areas are already done. My old rule, out this year, is I would buy berries late July and wait for better berries into late August, but also not this season. The fellow I get them from only tells me he picks up "around Priest Lake." The berries are good size and have that wonderful perfume. I usually get two gallons and stretch them out through the year, but this summer I only got one gallon so I'll have to be more stingy when I pull some out of the freezer. I guess the anticipation for next summer will be all that greater.

We're in the midst of the annual wild huckleberry season here in the Pacific Northwest, but what a strange summer indeed. We got scorching, 100+ temperatures in June which is very unusual, then an early start to the wildfires. Now more scorching heat in July and the wildfires continue. The fires in my region are over dryland with rolling hills and very dry grasses. But reports say that the heat hasn't hurt the berries in my region of Northwest WA, and they grow best at very high mountain altitudes that typically don't get a lot of fire activity. Some of the public forest lands are closed due to high fire danger and local pickers aren't happy, but the bears of course love to have the huckleberry crop to themselves. Here are two of my favorite huckleberry recipes I created last season. Today I'm working on huckleberry ice cream and then on the list is huckleberry turnovers, pancakes and I made huckleberry bbq sauce last week. Huckleberry Bundt Cake with Candied Lemon Peel- Huckleberry Panna Cotta with Almond Crumble and Oregano Flowers-

More and more I'm breaking my old traditions of serving certain recipes during specific seasons, until recently. This is a dish I normally do in the Fall when we turn to thoughts of pumpkin, sage and we use more toasted hazelnuts in my region. But it is so delicious during summer grilling season. I tend to forget how delicious grilled meats and seafood are with a vinaigrette. Grilled Pork Chop with Toasted Hazelnut-Pumpkin Vinaigrette- For the Vinaigrette- ½ cup pumpkin puree ⅓ cup apple cider vinegar 2 cloves garlic, minced ½ tsp. turmeric 1 tsp. chopped fresh sage ¾ cup olive oil ½ tsp. each salt and black pepper ⅓ cup seeded and diced tomato ⅓ cup toasted hazelnuts

This is great and spurs my memory that my Grandmother sometimes put sugar in her potato salad. I remember her making a cooked salad dressing but can't remember how she used it. This is wonderul and sounds like a good potato salad.

Good questions to ask. I prepare it and it goes on the salad, and I also use it to make the croutons I put on Caesar salad, whatever is leftover I refrigerate and use it within a day.

Made at home. I just put a lot of minced garlic cloves in olive oil and let it steep away. Some people say it will go off, but I've never had a problem with it and use it up pretty quick.

Here it is, been making this for about 20 years. In this recipe the egg is raw, but I'm serving it at home. Sometimes I'll coddle the egg to slightly cook it. 1 ½ cups garlic olive oil ½ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice 1 oz. can flat anchovy filets 2 tsp. dry mustard 2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce 1 tbsp. chopped capers ¾ cup grated parmesan cheese 1 egg lightly beaten Salt and pepper to taste Combine all of the dressing ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine. It's best to whisk the dressing by hand rather than a food processor.

A very old, very poor photo, but until this morning I had totally forgotten this potato salad. Baby gold potatoes, warm, tossed in my homemade Caesar dressing. This would be delicious today, and I'd get rid of those pesky olives and would do just warm potatoes tossed in Caesar dressing, which includes a coddled egg and plenty of anchovy, then some shaved parmesan.

I've never heard of the Warba potato. Is it somewhat like a Baby Yukon Gold?

Yes you've got it, I should have salted the cucumbers first then gotten out extra moisture. I think they would have been crisper, and I could have diced them instead of cut in chunks. Thanks for the reminder tip.

Made a quick potato salad today with ingredients I had on hand. In the summer I always have homemade mayonnaise on hand, then roasted baby gold potatoes. Some fresh oregano and chives from the garden, and some diced cucumber from cucumbers a neighbor brought me. I could have done without the cucumbers and should have added capers. If I had some olives, preferably green, I would have added those. The potatoes alone would have been ok, but just needed something more. This is my homemade mayonnaise recipe- 2 large eggs 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice 1-1 ½ cups extra virgin olive oil salt and pepper to taste 2 tsp. chopped fresh oregano Place the eggs, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste in a blender. Process just until ingredients are combined, about 20 seconds. With blender running at low speed, slowly drizzle in the oil in a slow steady stream. Continue to add enough oil until the mayonnaise thickens. This will take about 3-5 minutes. Refrigerate the mayonnaise at least one hour before using to allow it to cool and the oil to set.

Today I was searching for an old semifreddo recipe that I did and knew we had a discussion topic on it. After 11 years I'm going to update my semifreddo a little. Summer seems like the perfect time to make semifreddo. Do you have a favorite and any photos of a semifreddo that you've made?

I like the idea of potatoes with the flavor of feta.

Yes and they were fine for a potato salad when thawed and just a quick reheat. They were soft and still had good flavor. Sometimes I'll freeze raw potatoes that I have leftover and put them different kinds of salads. Thanks for sharing this looks and sounds delicious.

For the wild mushroom potato salad I would make it in the fall with local wild chanterelles and then in the spring it would be local wild morels.

I wanted to start looking at European recipes for potato salad, so the first cookbook from my library I looked at was the Alpine Cookbook, Comfort Food from the Mountains by Hans Gerlach, DK Press, 2015. I was interested to see what contemporary potato salads are popular with home cooks today. They sound delicious and are quite different from traditional American potato salads. Green Bean Salad with Egg, Potatoes, Sour Cream and Dill. Similar to a Deviled Egg and Green Bean Salad I do sans the potatoes. -5 1/2 oz. green onions -14oz. small red potatoes -1 tsp. caraway seeds -4 eggs -1ob. 2oz. green beans -1/2 bunch dill -2/3 cup sour cream -2 tbsp. mayonnaise -1-2 tsp. spicy mustard -salt and pepper Potato Salad with Wild Mushrooms- -1lb. 5 oz. red potatoes -1 tsp. caraway seeds -1 kohlrabi -3 green onions -1 1/4 cup vegetable broth -1 tbsp. mustard -1/4 cup white wine vinegar -1/4 cup canola oil -7oz. wild mushrooms -1 bunch chives -1 bunch dill -salt and pepper The potatoes are boiled with the caraway seeds then drained. This is interesting, the vegetable broth is boiled then poured over the kohlrabi and green onions. The potatoes are cut and put into the broth mixture with the kohlrabi and green onions. In a bowl the mustard is mixed with vinegar, canola oil and whisked. The wild mushrooms are sauteed in oil for 5 minutes, then added to the potato mixture with the chives and dill. It reads almost like a potato soup because there isn't any mention of draining the potatoes, kohlrabi and green onions from the vegetable broth. I like the idea of cooking in broth for flavor, but I'd probably drain it off and keep it for another use like vegetable soup.

I use different cooking techniques basically based on what sounds good at the time. Yesterday I had some baby Yukon Golds I have previously frozen. They were soft when defrosted, but not cooked so I roasted them in the oven with salt, pepper and olive oil. Then cooled I cut them in slices and tossed in homemade mayonnaise. Tasted great and I enjoyed the texture. Other times I boil or steam the potatoes. In those cases I leave them whole and cut them after cooking.

I've been wanting to make poke for a long time. I was looking for tuna in the market and ahead of me a lady bought about 10 packs of frozen ahi tuna cut for poke. Knowing that frozen tuna can be very good, I bought some and it was delicious. The only thing I would change is to cut it into smaller cubes. Poke is so versatile the possibilities are endless. I tossed it in sesame oil, Chinese chili oil and a little soy sauce. In addition to the tuna I put in some chives from the garden, garlic, ginger and furikake. Delicious. Next I'll try it with some fresh salmon and add some diced cucumber. Served with prawn crackers.

That sounds and look delicious and I agree, I'm not a fan of gloppy potato salad. The store potato salad sold in the deli sections always seems to have far too much mayonnaise for my liking and I ask myself, "where are the potatoes?" By the way I also have a few Junior League cookbooks and still refer to them.

I pulled out this little booklet, 3 x 5, and at the bottom saw "Sigman Food Stores." I probably got it at a local vintage shop. It was normal back in the days for these booklets to be printed by a host company, in this case Accent, Mazola Corn Oil, Reynolds Wrap and the National Broiler Council. A quick search shows that Sigman Food Stores was located in Yakima, WA, in the south central part of our state. They eventually expanded to Walla Walla and Spokane, which is where this little booklet found a home. So ironic that I bought this years ago not knowing or researching the local history. The illustration is classic 60's bbq. I remember my Mother always having Accent in the spice rack, but never really knew what she used it for. The recipes are also classic 60s, with an emphasis on the bbq spit, (something I still use today).

I was still curious about how far back potato salad recipes go in American cookbooks, so I turned to one of the oldest in my collection, the 1913 edition of The Boston Cooking School Cook Book by Fannie Merritt Farmer, owned by my Great Grandmother Jennie Pink. There is Potato Salad 1-which includes onion juice, hard-boiled eggs, beets, parsley and a vinegar dressing. Potato Salad 2-boiled then riced potatoes with pecans and French dressing served on watercress. Hot Potato Salad-with a dressing made with tarragon, cider vinegar and olive oil. Potato and Celery Salad-with French Dressing, celery and red apple. And then we have the Bolivia Potato Salad-potatoes, hard-boiled egg, red pepper, chives and cream dressing

That too!

I was curious how the French view potato salad, so I turned to one of my cherished cookbooks, a signed copy of The Complete Robuchon. I had Robuchon sign the book at an event in Las Vegas in 2010. Salade de Mache, Pommes de Terre, et Truffles-Mache with Potatoes and Truffles. It's potatoes, 12, with "1 or 2 big black truffles." That is an overpowering amount of truffles! Salade de Pommes de Terre et Crevettes-Shrimp and Potato Salad, 1 pound of small potatoes, 1/2-1/4 pound small shrimp, mussels, onions, herbs and mayonnaise Salade de Pommes de Terre et Celri-Branche au Jambon-Potato and Celery Salad with Ham 2 pounds potatoes, cider vinegar, celery stalks, heavy cream, herbs and 1/4 pound ham Salade de Pommes de Terre au Celeri-Potato Salad with Celery Root 2 pounds potatoes, he often calls for Rattes, Charlottes, Finns or Russian Banana Potatoes, white wine, celery root, mustard, sugar, heavy cream and horseradish Then there is Herbed Potato Salad, Potato Salad a la Parisienne which is potato salad with shallots, cipollini onions and herbs with a white wine vinaigrette

That's a perfect term for a Salade Nicoise.

I agree potatoes must be the main ingredient in the potato salad, yet I also like adding additional things like herbs, spices and things we've discussed. I think it's a good question to get everyone's feedback. I know that my niece and nephew who are much younger than I am like additions to their potato salad, yet with the potatoes as the main ingredient. They make a mayonnaise based potato salad with curry spices, slivered almonds and raisins and it's delicious. Again keeping the almonds and raisins in small amounts.