Cauliflower potato salad

 

This is one of those recipes that I decided to try anyway. While I have nothing against cauliflower being pressed into service as fauxtatoes or a pasta stand-in, at some point the business of twisting things into something they are not (zoodles, etc.) gets a little tiresome. After all, there was nothing wrong with cauliflower hanging out with its veggie friends at the dip bar.

But the recipe called for fresh dill and dill pickles, and I had a certain amount of both that need using.

Cauliflower potato salad

From “Keto BBQ” by Faith Gorsky and Lara Clevenger, as published in the Star Tribune’s Sunday Supper feature.

Ingredients
3 cups cauliflower florets (about 1 smallish head)
6 tablespoons mayonnaise
½ cup minced red onion
2 tablespoons finely chopped dill pickles
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon paprika
2 hard cooked eggs, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

Method
Put cauliflower florets in a medium sauce pan covered with a few inches of water. Bring to a boil and simmer about 5 minutes until fork tender. Drain and set aside to cool.

Combine mayo, onion, pickles, mustard, onion and garlic powders, salt, pepper and paprika in a medium bowl. Stir in cooled cauliflower, eggs and dill. Chill until ready to eat. Serves 6-ish.

Rating: It turns out that if you put a cooked white starchy vegetable into a potato salad dressing with the usual ingredients, it turns out tasting like potato salad, and in this case, not a bad one. It’s faster to cook the cauliflower than the potatoes, and there’s no peeling involved, so that’s a plus. It’s a slightly different texture, but that’s not a bad thing, since potato salad can get a tad leaden. I won’t turn my back on potato salad, but this little number has some merit.

Grilled scalloped potatoes

 

It was over 90 degrees when we pulled into campground registration at Gooseberry Falls State Park. The park employee was marveling over the then nearly unheard of temperature. That same temperature elsewhere feels icky at best, but there, the blazing sun was countered by a wondrously cooling lake breeze as we soaked up the sun sitting on rocks listening to the waves crash in after we’d pitched our tent. That was about 4 p.m.

By 5:30, the temperature started its dive. It was 55 and still dropping by the time we got our supper prepared on the camp stove. All I remember was it involved Betty Crocker scalloped potato mix in the interest of ease, and that we ate it in the car to avoid having the food – and us -- lose all heat before we could eat it.

After we shivered our way through dishes and wondered if it was too soon to go hide in our meager Target tent, one of us finally turned to the other and said, “You know, no one here knows us and they won’t know if we just bail and leave.” We quickly pulled up stakes and packed it in, driving to Two Harbors to stay in one of the tiny old-school motels that are still there along 61 as you get into town.

That was many, many moons ago. We have not camped in our tent since outside of a back yard, thus ending our vacation camping era. We had given it a good go over the years, but we realized that North Shore camping clearly called for something more than our $29.99 Target special and the sleeping bags that had gone with us to camp, and we weren’t willing to make the investment for something that we felt we should enjoy, but honestly didn’t. We were destined to be fair weather campers, and the weather and bugs were rarely fair. (Although I do vividly remember hearing our first loon call while we were ineptly attempting to set up our camp stove for the first time after pulling into Mille Lacs campground in a torrential downpour. We wondered who was around to laugh at us since we didn’t see any other foolhardy campers around at that point.)

I recently came across an HGTV video for camping hacks, one of which involved grilled scalloped potatoes aimed at campfire preparation. Flashbacks ensued.

Camp scalloped potatoes

Adapted from HGTV via YouTube video

Ingredients
Oil for greasing foil
2 pounds new potatoes, sliced ¼-inch thick
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons chopped shallots
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary (optional)
½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Salt, pepper and paprika

Method
Make two bowls with double sheets of foil, rolling up the edge to form a lip. Lightly oil bottom. Divide potatoes among bowls in overlapping layers. Drizzle cream over the top of each bowl. Sprinkle with shallots, garlic and rosemary. Sprinkle Parmesan over the top. Season with salt, pepper and paprika.

Cover each bowl with another piece of tin foil, crimping edges to seal. Grill for 25 to 30 minutes.

Rating: These things are bliss, even when you just eat them in the comfort of your dining room after grilling outside. At a campground, they would be ambrosia. Nice little crispy potato bits on the bottom with crunchy Parmesan on top with creamy, dreamy potatoes in the middle.

Still not enough to make me take up camping again, but way better than the Betty Crocker mix. 

The drought has done a number on Gooseberry Falls this year. Here's a photo of it in its usual state. Well worth a visit, and thankfully camping is optional.

 

Smoked salmon BLTs

 Sitting on a patio in warm sun, with a cooling lake breeze. Fine people watching, really tasty food. Bonus points for a good beer or wine list and a view. That's pretty much my definition of peak travel perfection, the scene that lingers in memory far longer than anything I read on a historic site plaque.

The cautious return to travel means the return of souvenirs, something besides photos to help you place yourself in that spot in memory. Some people who travel collect state tea towels, snowglobes or shot glasses. Most of our souvenirs are consumable, either brewvenirs or readily transportable food. It's ephemeral, but nothing reminds me more of a particular place than a particular meal in that place.

One the way back from Grand Marais, we stopped in Duluth and joined the lunch line at Canal Park Brewing. We greatly enjoyed the smoked salmon BLTs, along with their admirable beers. So when I got home I made this take on the sandwich, using smoked salmon we'd bought at the reopened Dockside Fish Market in Grand Marais and some Thielen's bacon.

Smoked salmon BLTs
Adapted from the menu at Canal Park Brewery.

Ingredients
4 strips bacon
¼ pound smoked salmon, sliced in half into thin slabs
2 brioche buns or bread of your choice
Guacamole
Sun-dried tomato aioli (see recipe)
1 medium tomato, sliced, lightly sprinkled with salt and pepper
½ a small red onion, thinly sliced
Leaf lettuce

Method
Cook bacon until browned and crisp. Remove from pan and drain on paper towels. Cut each slice in half.

Over low heat, sauté onion in bacon fat briefly to just slightly soften. Remove from pan and set aside.

Wipe out most of the remaining bacon fat. Toast cut sides of buns in pan. Remove pan from heat and transfer buns to plates.

Spread cut side of the bottom half of buns with guacamole. Spread cut side of the top half of buns with sun-dried tomato aioli. Place four bacon halves on each bottom bun, then top with salmon, tomatoes, onions and lettuce before capping with top half of bun.

Rating: Fabulous. So, so good. Transported us right back to that meal on the North Shore.

 

Sun-dried tomato aioli
Adapted from “Rustic Joyful Food Meant to Share” by Danielle Kartes

Ingredients
1 cup mayonnaise
⅓ cup sun-dried tomatoes
⅓ cup Parmesan
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic

Method
Mix ingredients well. If you want a smoother mixture, you can mix it briefly in the food processor. It works well either way.

Rating: It was fine as written but I liked it better when I added garlic and reduced the amount of Parmesan involved. I think it’s better when it’s made a day ahead and has more time for the flavors to meld. Very versatile; great on a sliced beef sandwich with pickled onions and arugula.