New Salad and Side Dish to try

I made these sides for our Father's Day dinner.  It was just Hubby, Emily and I as Ian was working.  I wanted to make sure that dinner was pretty much prepared by Emily and I as Hubby has really been cooking quite a bit.  We had watched a Trisha Yearwood cooking show the week before and she made this potato salad.  It looked delicious to me as I really do not like mayonnaise based salads. This had no mayo in sight.  And who can pass up bacon.  Salad was excellent. 

The green beans were in a recent copy of Fine Cooking magazine and look to be pretty easy and would give us a different take on green beans.  We had just about everything needed to make these.  Now add a few strip steaks with Emily's Blue Cheese sauce.  Dinner did not disappoint us and was well received by hubby.  We finished off dinner with a Raspberry Buttermilk cake that will show up in a blog in the very near future.  

Grilled Potato Salad with Bacon Vinaigrette

1/2 pound bacon (about 8 strips)

1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard 

1 tablespoon light brown sugar 

1 teaspoon sherry vinegar 

1/2 lemon 

Freshly ground black pepper 

1 pound mini Yukon gold potatoes, halved

5 scallions 

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 

1 teaspoon kosher salt 

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 

2 tablespoons roughly chopped flat leaf

parsley

Flaky sea salt 

For the dressing: Put the bacon into a large nonstick skillet over medium heat and line a plate with paper towels. Cook the bacon, turning occasionally, until golden brown and crispy, 10 to 12 minutes.

Transfer the bacon to the lined plate and transfer the bacon fat to a small mixing bowl. Add the mustard, sugar and vinegar to the warm fat and squeeze in the juice from the lemon half. Whisk to combine and

season with black pepper. Set aside in a warm place.

For the potatoes: Preheat the grill over medium heat. Place the potatoes in an even layer in

a microwave-safe baking dish. Pour in 1/4 cup water and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Steam the potatoes in the microwave on high power until just slightly tender, about 3 minutes. Remove the potatoes and discard any water that remains. Place the potatoes in a large mixing bowl with the whole scallions. Drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Toss the vegetables to evenly

coat in the oil. Place the potatoes on the grill, cut-side down. Grill the potatoes until tender

and caramelized, 7 minutes on each side. Meanwhile, place the scallions on the coolest area of the grill and cook, watching them closely to prevent charring, 1 to 2 minutes on each side. Remove the

scallions from the grill and set aside. Remove the potatoes from the grill and place in a large mixing bowl. Cut the grilled scallions into 1-inch pieces and place in the bowl with the potatoes. Crumble the cooked bacon into the bowl. Add the parsley and some sea salt and drizzle generously with the warm

bacon dressing, then toss to coat.

Green Beans with Yogurt, Peppercorns and Cashews

2 tsp. coriander seeds

1/2 cup unsalted cashews

1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, plus freshly cracked black pepper

2 cloves garlic

1 cup full-fat plain yogurt

Kosher salt

1 lb. green beans and/or yellow wax beans, halved and trimmed

Juice of half a lime

In a large skillet, toast the coriander on low heat until it turns a shade darker, 2 to 3 minutes. Set aside the coriander, but keep the skillet (you’ll use it to make the rest of the dish).

In a large mortar and pestle or food processor, blend the coriander, cashews, peppercorns, and garlic until the mixture has a pebble-like texture. In a medium bowl, combine the cashew mixture with the yogurt, season with salt, and set aside.

In the same skillet used to toast the coriander, add the green beans and 1/4 cup water. Season with salt. Cover and cook on medium heat until the beans are crisp-tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Fold in the yogurt mixture evenly to coat the green beans, and cook 3 minutes more. The yogurt should be mostly absorbed, but with a little loose sauce in the pan.

Squeeze with lime juice to taste and garnish with freshly cracked pepper.