Every Thursday I post recipes and cooking advice for working parents.
Over the weekend we had our first barbecue of the season. Papa Bee is a master with grilled meat, having worked for many years for The Barbecue Bible’s Steven Raichlen. I handle the sides.
However, this Memorial Day I was running after Baby Bee, who wouldn’t nap and was generally being a toddler pain. This left me little time for shopping and prep, and sent me into a frenzy in the late afternoon. With just a little over and hour before the guests arrived, I still needed a potato salad and a desert.
Mark Bittman to the rescue on the potato salad — I modified his standard recipe, and whipped up a great, light mayonnaise-less version in a flash.
The desert was more difficult: my fastest cake recipe is this Country Pear Cake from Epicurious, which requires little more than throwing everything in a bowl and mixing. But I realized late in the game that I didn’t have any pears or apples, no milk and no white sugar. I did have strawberries, low-fat yogurt, and brown sugar, so I took a risk and made the substitutions. The cake turned out great — it has a very tangy, yogurty taste, not at all like the original. I’ve put back the white sugar below, because I think that it will work even better, but know that you can substitute brown with little consequence; you can sub orange or lime peel for the lemon, but do make sure you have some citrus to flavor the cake.
Healthy Potato Salad (adapted from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian) 1.5 pounds potatoes, salted and boiled until tender (about 5 minutes) 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley 1/2 cup minced red onion 1/2 cup chopped pickles 2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar 1 heaping tablespoon mustardPreparation: In a large bowl, mix together the potatoes, parsley, red onion, pickles and eggs. In a food processor or blender, mix the olive oil, vinegar and mustard until you get a creamy emulsion (about a minute). Toss potato and dressing together; serve.
Yogurt-Strawberry Cake (Adapted from Country Pear Cake at Epicurious.com)- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup olive oil (do not use extra-virgin)
- 1 cup yogurt (low-fat okay, but don’t use fat-free)
- 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
- 2/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
- 1 pound strawberries, hulled and sliced into quarters
Preparation: Preheat oven to 375°F. Oil and flour 9-inch-diameter cake pan. Line bottom with parchment paper. Whisk eggs, oil, yogurt, and lemon peel in large bowl. Whisk in sugar. Add flour; whisk until batter is smooth. Mix in strawberries. Transfer batter to pan. Sprinkle top with 1 tablespoon sugar. Bake until brown on top and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Cool in pan on rack. (Can be made 8 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.)
Other great resources for BBQ side dishes and desserts:
- Great Barbecue Side Dishes from Barbecue Master.
- Grilling Sides Dishes from Country Living.
- 20 No-Bake Summer Desserts from WomansDay.
- 9 Best Quick Desserts for Spring from The Kitchn.
