This potent Indian soup is known as kadhi, but there’s very little agreement on kadhi other than that it’s a sort of sour and spicy vegetable soup, made with plenty of buttermilk and fragrant with Indian spices and as hot as you like to make it with chiles.
During the summer when the local farmers' markets are in full swing, our chefs reach out to area farmers to take advantage of the natural bounty of the season. We have a brief but amazing growing season here in the Northeast, with irresistible produce making an appearance for just a few short months. Chef Corey created this delightfully fresh and simple salad from a mismatched box of produce that arrived with our regular vegetable order one day. He wanted to highlight the crispy, crunchy vegetables with a light, tangy classic dressing. This makes a terrific salad for a light lunch or brunch; it is beautiful and simple to put together. Feel free to vary the vegetables to suit what is in season near you and what appeals to your taste. To turn this salad into a heartier meal, crumble some blue cheese and/or some crispy bacon slices over the top and serve with crusty bread.
A common sight in Mexico, chorizo sausage infuses potatoes with its salty, spicy flavor for a hearty taco filler.
Our friend Brian Beadle is kind of a finicky eater -- he’s a meat and potatoes man. You could say he is sort of a "spuds specialist." His mashed potato recipe is fairly standard but his trick is to slip tiny pats of cold butter down into and throughout the hot potatoes when they are in their serving dish. The butter melts into hidden pools buried deep in the mashed potatoes to be discovered with each delicious forkful.
Man, do I love Australia. First, my oldest daughter was conceived there on our honeymoon…and while we're on the subject, have I ever shared with you that we almost named her Sydney as a nod to her... um... point of origin? In the end, I chickened out, though —I thought that might be a little corny. Or awkward to explain. Or…nevermind.
Crisp potatoes and rings of red onions are tossed hot off the grill with tender kernels of corn, cherry tomatoes, and spicy Jalapeño-Lime Vinaigrette. We use Rosefirs and Russian Bananas here—fingerling potatoes grown for us at Green Gulch Farm—but any variety of potato will do. For added smoky flavor, we throw the jalapenos for the vinaigrette right on the grill. If you don't have time to light up an outdoor grill, just roast the potatoes and grill the onions and jalapeños on a stovetop grill instead.
All cooks have a few basic recipes that they turn to again and again over the course of a year. Potato and green bean salad is one of mine. I make it different ways depending on the season and my mood. It's very good dressed with just olive oil and lemon juice, but it becomes absolutely superb when bound with homemade Green Goddess. If you're familiar only with the bottled version of this dressing, you must try my recipe, which is based on the original, invented in the 1920s by the great San Francisco chef Victor Hirtzler.
Sometimes the eating-close-to-the-ground concept needs a night off. You want a piece of meat, a potato and maybe a salad — the stuff of old-time grillers' dreams. With a grill and a pair of tongs, you can have it all.
Ingredients
Serve this warm or at room temperature.
Serve as a starter with bread for dipping or as a side dish for grilled foods. Use local organic ingredients if possible.