My New Obession

This recipe for Potato Salad "Buttered" and Lemoned, comes from the Canal House cookbook series, volume 1, and when I first flipped through the pages and landed on the recipe, I thought something along the lines of: Holy Freaking Cow. I need to make this NOW. Who cares if it calls for preserved lemons, the recipe for which is in the section called "Why Buy it When You Can Make it," and which, upon further inspection, would take 30 days to actually make. Who cares if, for me, NOW roughly translates to "someday when kids are bigger and I have more time, about a zillion years from now." Well, finally, in the beginning of this summer I motivated to preserve a huge batch of lemons. Now it's "harvest" time and I've been using the tart-sweet-briny bits in just about every salad that has graced the dinner table. Totally worth the wait.

And it goes without saying, that if preserved lemons are my new obsession, Canal House is my ongoing obsession. If you are not a subscriber, please remedy this immediately!

Here's a nice little tutorial on how to make the lemons, but you can also pick them up already prepared at any Middle Eastern specialty market.

Potato Salad "Buttered" and Lemoned (pictured above, from Canal House, Volume 1)

Boil 2 pounds potatoes (unpeeled), reduce heat to a simmer, and cook until tender, about 17 minutes. Drain. When they are cool enough to handle, slice the potatoes horizontally and arrange on a serving platter, "buttering" them with mayonnaise as you work. Drizzle the potatoes with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and garnish with about 2 tablespoons minced preserved lemons, and fresh herbs such as chives or parsley or basil

Romano Bean and Tomato Salad

Boil fresh romano beans (trimmed) for two minutes then plunge in ice bath. Pat dry with a paper towel, then toss with fresh tomatoes (chopped), olive oil, salt, pepper, freshly shaved Parmesan, and about 2 tablespoons preserved lemons if you have it (or a teaspoon of grated lemon zest if you don't.)