Opa's Potato Salad

Potato salad has always had a time honour place on my family's holiday table. It was something that was made specially for Christmas, New Year's Eve, and Easter. As I was growing up, and Mum would make this delicious bowl of creamy goodness, she would always relay stories to me of her Grandfather "Otto Gerecke" (born on Dec 31st 1880), who created this version of Germany's most beloved salad. When Mum made this at Easter time, she always added a lot more eggs which is what uhr-Opa always did.

This is definitely salad you want to serve on your New Year's Eve table, on your Eid table, your Christmas table, at Easter, on birthdays; and, just because.

In our home, when the potatoes came out, it WAS the holidays!

Ingredients:
1-2 lb potatoes, washed and boiled in their skins
1 white salad onion, diced finely
8 German Barrel Pickles, diced
1 TBSP sugar (or substitute - but it does give it a different taste using sugar substitute)
2-3 TBSP of pickle juice from the jar (alternatively you can add juice of 1 lemon or apple cider vinegar)
3 TBSP Extra Virgin olive oil (or vegetable or sunflower oil)
5 TBSP Miracle Whip (add enough for desired consistency)
2 - 3 tsp salt (or to taste)
Pepper (to taste)
6 eggs, hard boiled and chopped
1/2 cup bacon bits (or you can use 1/4 lb pastrami diced and fried lightly in a little oil. Cook meat until crispy)
3 TBSP vegetable oil
1/2 cup boiling water
3 TBSP chopped fresh parsley

1. In a large bowl, add the onions, sugar, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Add boiling water over this and stir until the sugar and salt dissolves. Add the pickles and parsley and set aside. (The boiling water helps take the sharpness out of the onion)
2. Drain the boiled potatoes into a sink and let sit cool for minutes, but not too long otherwise it will make it difficult to skin them. Holding the potato with a fork (they will be too hot to hold with your bare hand), using a sharp knife, "skin" the potatoes and clean them completely.
    Slice the potatoes into the bowl that have the onions. When you slice the potatoes, I usually quarter them first and then slice in good size "chunks" to make sure you have substance in your salad. Add the chopped eggs. Mix lightly.
3. Add Miracle Whip (you can use mayonnaise but it does not give it that same "sharpness" that this salad is looking for, and if you do use mayonnaise, cut down on the sugar) and give it a good stir.
4. Make a small well in the center of the salad and pour bacon bits into the well. Bring the vegetable oil to a smoking heat and pour immediately over the bacon bits. Be very careful doing this because it can splatter and will sizzle. Mix the oil and bacon bits into the salad very well. (Alternatively, if you are using pastrami; try the meat until it is crispy. Pour very hot pastrami bits and fat into the well and mix thoroughly.)

Chill in the refrigerator for several hours or over night to let the flavours marry, before serving.

Potato Salad

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Beef and Cabbage with Potato Dumplings

A little while ago, I decided to honour all of my heritage... which is quite a feat when one is Chinese, Turkish, Russian, Azerbaijani, English, German, French, Jewish, Muslim, and Gypsy. But all these parts make up one whole which is ME.

I think the fact that food was such a huge part of my life, and growing up, we ate out most nights of the week; I think that one of the best ways I can honour these different regions of the world which are distinctly ME, is by food and my cooking.

So I create different dishes based on what my stomach tells me, and where I feel directed towards.

Tonight, I honoured my Russian and Germanic roots in my take of an old classic of stuffed cabbage rolls.

I did not feel like taking the time to wrap beef in the cabbage and then roll them up, so created this short cut which worked really well.

I was also going to make Pirogi's but did not have any floured won ton wrappers (a great short cut and something that one should always have in the house for various recipes) and really, time was short and I did not want to make them from scratch, which really is not that difficult or time consuming, but in all honesty, I was feeling kinda lazy and this dinner was meant to be rather fast. So I substituted and made German-style potato dumplings instead. If one really wanted to make pirogi's you can by leaving out the flour in the mix (and add a cup of cottage cheese too) and place a spoonful in a flour won ton wrapper (can be bought in the freezer section of Asian grocery stores), and after boiling, fry in butter until golden brown.




















You can easily find packets of these round wrappers
in the freezer section of your Asian supermarket



Beef and Cabbage with Potato Dumpling Recipe
















2 - 4 cans cooked beef
1 head of cabbage
1 large can of whole tomatoes, sliced
1 can tomato sauce
6 cloves of garlic, sliced
Salt and Pepper to taste


1. In a very large pot, add the "juice" from 2 of the cans of beef
2. Line bottom of the pot with half the cabbage leaves
3. Add the beef (shred the beef out of the can), sliced garlic, sliced tomatoes (and the juice), salt and pepper
4. Top the rest of the cabbage (torn into big pieces) over the meat and tomato mixture, add more salt and pepper and then top with tomato sauce
5. Bring the pot to a boil, then reduce the heat to very low and simmer (covered) for about 30 minutes



Potato Dumplings

1 cup instant potatoes
1 cup flour
1 cup fresh parmesan cheese
1 cup hot water
2 stalks green onion, sliced
1 cup milk
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/2 cup extra flour


1. In a bowl, mix together the potatoes, cheese, and green onions, salt and pepper. Add the hot water and mix well.
2. Then add the flour and milk (add the milk a little at a time until well mixed and not wet - you may not need to use the full 1 cup - I used just under)
3. Let sit about five to ten minutes while water is boiling (make sure to add about 2 TBSP of salt to water)
4. Using the extra flour in a separate bowl get hands nice and floury, take one big tablespoon full of dumpling mix and roll between hands into a ball - about the size of a golf balls, drop into boiling water. Make sure that they don't get stuck to the bottom.
5. Boil until the dumplings rise to the top and then cook an extra five minutes. When cooked, using a slotted spoon, take out and put on a plate to drain/dry.



Makes approx 12 dumplings
Serve with beef and cabbage