CHOPSTICK KEBABS + CREAMY POTATO SALAD

I am craving summer… swimming at the river, barbeques at the beach, and juicy summer fruit. To settle my yearnings we have been barbequing a fair amount around here recently.

Luckily my children love mince, especially with homemade tomato sauce and pasta (I think they are pretty normal in this respect). They also like burgers and things they can hold in their hot little hands. While going through our kitchen drawers I came across a handful of takeaway chopsticks and had the idea for chopstick kebabs inspired by my travels in Bali. Although I am not using Balinese flavours here, this is a traditional technique for making ‘satay’ sticks.

Creamy Potato Salad

It is the olives and gherkins that really give this salad a nice kick to match the potatoes. My children like strong flavours, however, you could hold back on the olives and gherkins. Or they could be sprinkled over for those who like them.

Ingredients

• 1 kg desiree potatoes or similar all-purpose potato variety
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup yogurt
• 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
• approx. 6 green olives roughly chopped
• 3-4 gherkins roughly chopped
• handful of parsley chopped
• lemon or lime juice to taste
• 2 free range eggs hard-boiled then roughly chopped
• salt and pepper to season

Instructions

• Wash and chop the potatoes into 1.5cm cubes. We like mouthful sized chunks but they could be bigger if you like. We also leave the skin on, but again up to you. Put the chopped potatoes into a large saucepan and cover with cold water (if using new potatoes, use boiling water). Add the salt (1/2 teaspoon) and bring to the boil then simmer for about 12-15 minutes until the potatoes are just tender. Drain in a colander and refresh under cold water. Tip - To save on pots I add the eggs to the potatoes (once the water is boiling) for exactly 5 minutes (use a timer) then scoop them out and cover with cold water to cool.
• Meanwhile combine the mayonnaise, yogurt, mustard, olives, gherkins and parsley in a bowl. Check the taste and adjust with lemon juice and seasoning.
• Once the potatoes are cool-ish (luke warm is OK), combine with the chopped eggs and dressing. Finally check the seasoning. This salad can be made ahead of time and covered in the fridge until ready to serve.

And I made a pretty yum potato salad to accompany the kebabs… First I will share a little secret. Potatoes need salt. Salt has two purposes 1. to lock in the flavour (and nutrients) and 2. help hold the shape of the potato cubes (no one likes a mushy potato salad). When I was training as a chef my tutor Serge used to often tell me to ‘add more salt’. Now, being brought up in a very ‘healthy eating’ family (my parents were doctors and followed the Prikitin Diet) I just couldn’t get my head around this new concept of salting food.

As good things eventually stick, I gradually I began to understand the role of salt in food for flavour. And when I studied nutrition I learnt about its ability to lock in nutrients, particularly when boiling vegetables. Of-course their is a case for too much salt in our diet. Generally speaking, the culprit is not the home cook salting her/his food, but processed foods (packaged, canned). These foods are laden in sodium chloride (table salt) rather than the traditional forms of salt – sea salt, rock salt – that contain a plethora of extra minerals. For our family kitchen I make a sea salt/ kelp blend by combining 3 parts sea salt with 1 part kelp. The kelp adds extra iodine otherwise deficient in New Zealand soils (and many other parts of the world). So keep that salt coming, a small pinch at a time until a dish tastes great, however, it shouldn’t taste ‘salty’.

Creamy Potato Salad

It is the olives and gherkins that really give this salad a nice kick to match the potatoes. My children like strong flavours, however, you could hold back on the olives and gherkins. Or they could be sprinkled over for those who like them.

Ingredients

• 1 kg desiree potatoes or similar all-purpose potato variety
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup yogurt
• 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
• approx. 6 green olives roughly chopped
• 3-4 gherkins roughly chopped
• handful of parsley chopped
• lemon or lime juice to taste
• 2 free range eggs hard-boiled then roughly chopped
• salt and pepper to season

Instructions

• Wash and chop the potatoes into 1.5cm cubes. We like mouthful sized chunks but they could be bigger if you like. We also leave the skin on, but again up to you. Put the chopped potatoes into a large saucepan and cover with cold water (if using new potatoes, use boiling water). Add the salt (1/2 teaspoon) and bring to the boil then simmer for about 12-15 minutes until the potatoes are just tender. Drain in a colander and refresh under cold water. Tip - To save on pots I add the eggs to the potatoes (once the water is boiling) for exactly 5 minutes (use a timer) then scoop them out and cover with cold water to cool.
• Meanwhile combine the mayonnaise, yogurt, mustard, olives, gherkins and parsley in a bowl. Check the taste and adjust with lemon juice and seasoning.
• Once the potatoes are cool-ish (luke warm is OK), combine with the chopped eggs and dressing. Finally check the seasoning. This salad can be made ahead of time and covered in the fridge until ready to serve.

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