This appetizer is mouth watering (exactly the sensation I experienced when I first laid eyes on it). And why not? All the ingredients individual and together are delicious. So drool no longer, instead take 20 minutes to make the Strawberry Goat Cheese Bruschetta from the Better Homes and Gardens website.
Intrigued? Well, you’ll be happy to know that it’s actually not that hard to make. There are many different variations of this salad out there, and everyone’s got their version. There is even a version of it in Spain (Ensalada Rusa), which includes tuna. But I stick to the version my Mom has always made, and I love it (and so far only heard positive feedback).
Here are the ingredients you’ll need:
6 large potatoes (russet)
10 eggs
1 carrot
1/2 white or red onion
1 fresh cucumber
1 small pack of bologna
3 to 4 scallions
3 to 4 medium sized pickles
1 can of sweet peas
mayonnaise (1 and 1/2 large tablespoons)
salt and pepper to taste
A sprinkle of dried dill weed (or chopped fresh dill)
Boil the eggs, potatoes and carrot. Eggs should be hard boiled and potatoes and the carrot should be fully cooked through and soft (but not overcooked). As far as utensils, you’ll need a sharp knife, a cutting board
Once the eggs, potatoes and carrot are cooked. Peel the eggs, the potatoes and the carrot, chop all the aforementioned and place in the prepared bowl. Continue to peel and chop the onions, scallions, and cucumber and placing them in the same bowl. Chop the pickles and the bologna and add to the bowl. Finally, drain the can of peas and empty it out into the bowl.
Mix all the ingredients in the bowl, add salt and pepper to taste and mix. Add dried dill weed (if desired) and mix the ingredients again. Finally, add the mayonnaise, and mix all the ingredients until the mayonnaise is evenly distributed and all the ingredients are well combined.
So what does all this mixing get you? Take a look for yourself.
I haven’t heard of anyone walking away disappointed. A word of warning, the proportions I used will result in a very big salad, but feel free to pare it down. Just decrease the number of ingredients proportionally.
P.S. I received some commentary on this blog post with additional variations to this salad, so I wanted to add these variations here. Instead of mayonnaise some people use sour cream and for the meat component, instead of bologna some use chicken. Sometimes the carrot and onions are omitted.
Feel free to experiment with all these ingredients and see what tickles your taste buds.
The short rib sliders proved to be just as tasty as the short rib burrito . Definitely grab a fork before walking away from the truck, you’ll need it. The little sweet buns are covered with short rib meat, lettuce, cheese and of course the secret sauce. Take a look for yourself.
You know where to find the MoGo truck, so if you’re in the area, track them down and try their fabulous food.
Next on the list, MoGo tacos!
During Passover I had to come up with a dessert that would be “Passover friendly”, as we had guests over that were observant. I had literally one day to come up with something that was very tasty and yet took no time to make. My first point of reference? The Food Network of course. Within minutes I found the perfect recipe. It requires a minimum amount of ingredients and was so easy to prepare. The Food Network’s Passover Cobbler.
I followed the recipe pretty closely, however I used frozen berries and frozen pitted cherries for the filling. I couldn’t find cinnamon sugar, so I picked up some cinnamon and mixed it with regular sugar. I would recommend using less of the cinnamon sugar mixture than the recipe recommends, as it still covers all the berries and the top of the cobbler. As for technique, I used a hand-held mixer
3 large eggs
3/4 cup of sugar
3/4 cup of matzo meal
2 tablespoons of potato starch
2 packages of frozen fruit (1.5 would also do)
1/4 cup of vegetable oil
1/8 cup of cinnamon sugar (I would use a bit less)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Break the eggs in a mixing bowl, add sugar and mix until smooth and well mixed together. Add matzo meal, potato starch and vegetable oil to the egg and sugar mixture and mix until fully combined.
Grease a pie dish or a deep baking pan and cover with frozen berries (make sure the bottom of the dish you choose is fully covered and not visible). Top the fruit with most of the cinnamon sugar mixture, and then pour all of the matzo mixture over the fruit. When pouring try to cover most of the fruit. Top with the rest of the cinnamon sugar mixture, and bake in the oven for 45 minutes.
I made this cobbler three times in the last week, and it has come out fabulous every time (see what I mean about eating it any time of the year 
)
Hope you enjoy this treat whenever your heart desires!
Once the mixture was cooked, she topped a slice of the ciabatta loaf with the mixture. Finally, meet the proud chef with her completed dish.
I would consider the first installment of my series a complete success. Of course I had to taste the final product to vouch for it. Let me tell you, I give it two thumbs up, it was delicious.
Vicky, thanks for your support and participation, we’ll definitely do this again!
All the weekend plans have been canceled and I will be spending the weekend under the covers. However, every situation has a silver lining, right? The silver lining here is that I can spend this time catching up on all those blog posts that have been piling up.
On that note, let’s start with a simple weekend dish. There are lot of variations of deviled eggs, but I keep my deviled eggs pretty simple. Egg yolks, mayo, dijon mustard and top with dried dill weed and/or paprika.
Making this dish is this simple:
Boil eggs (number of eggs depends on how many you need).
Mayonnaise (I usually just eye ball it. But about 1 tablespoon should do)
Dijon mustard (also eye ball it)
Peel boiled eggs, cut in half lengthwise. Carefully remove the yolks from the whites, keeping the whites in tact. Place the yolks in a mixing bowl, and whites on a serving plate. Add mayonnaise and Dijon mustard to the yolks and mix with a fork until smooth.
Spoon the mixture into a piping (pastry) bag
To give you a sneak peak of what’s coming up…I am starting a new series. So as not to give all the excitement away, I’ll tell you this…the first post of the series will include shrimp (very yummy shrimp).
Please be patient and I’ll blog all about it very soon!
Russian Salad Olivier (Russian Winter Salad)
