Lemon-Dill Roasted Potato Salad

I know, I know; posting about potato salad during the summer. How novel. Next thing you know, I’ll be waxing poetic about hamburgers and hot dogs. But I just can’t help it – this is the first thing I’ve cooked in quite awhile that I’ve felt excited enough about to post on here. I made it for poker night this past Tuesday, and if left to our own devices, I’m sure my friend and I would’ve been able to eat the whole bowl ourselves.

There’s something about potato salad that I love, no matter how it’s made. It’s such a comfort food, and since I’m still lacking a stove, I’ve been lacking some of those comfort foods. I was kind of bummed out for awhile, because I like making potato salad, but not being able to boil the potatoes is obviously going to gum up the works. Luckily, I got my head out of my ass and realized I could just roast the potatoes and then treat it like I would any other potato salad.

That realization, along with the fact that I got an amazingly beautiful bunch of dill for $2 the other day, was the impetus for this potato salad. I love dill yet I rarely cook with it, so this seemed like a perfect opportunity to do something different.

Lemon-Dill Roasted Potato Salad

2.5 lbs baby red potatoes, diced
1/8 cup of roughly chopped fresh dill
3/4 – 1 cup of mayo, to taste
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons freshly cracked lemon pepper seasoning
2 tablespoons olive oil

Heat oven to 425 F. Toss diced potatoes with oil and lemon pepper seasoning, try to evenly cover all the potatoes. Put in the oven to roast, about 40 – 50 minutes, depending on how well done you’d like the potatoes. Thoroughly mix the mustard, mayo and dill. Chill for about 20 minutes, to allow the flavors to combine. When the potatoes are done, put them in a large bowl and let them cool for a few minutes. Add in the mayo/mustard mixture and distribute evenly among the potatoes. Best served warm, although honestly, just as tasty room temperature.

Lemon Ricotta … biscuits? Muffins?

Little clouds of happiness?

I really have no idea what these are, to be honest. Giada De Laurentiis calls them biscuits, but I don’t know if I buy it. Just because she bats her big eyes at me doesn’t make me trust her!

Also, I have a very sad cat next to me. Our new cat, Paul, was neutered today and he is the saddest sad face of them all. I’m pretty sure he’s a little bit dead inside. He’s young, though – he’ll get over it.

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Now that I’ve exploited my cat for my own personal gain, back to the cooking. [Please, don't ask what I think I'm gaining; I have absolutely no idea.]

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I’ve never actually made any of Giada’s recipes. And yes, I am on first name basis with her, thank you for asking. Give me a break – you try typing that last name over and over again. Then maybe I’ll stop italicizing words. Ahem. I had bookmarked the link to this recipe in my ill-sorted “recipes” bookmark folder forever ago and found it again when I was vainly trying to organize everything into sub-folders. I decided to give it a go, since I had some leftover ricotta cheese from when I made stuffed shells the other day.

IMG_8818The recipe was very easy to follow. The batter was pretty dough-like and sticky, and I was worried I did something wrong. Then again, who knows – maybe I did! But I persevered and put clumps of dough into my muffin pans and hoped for the best while they were baking.

When they came out of the oven, they definitely did not resemble the image from original recipe. They actually ended up looking more biscuit like, which made sense to me given the consistency of the batter. They ended up having a texture pretty similar to pound cake crossed with a biscuit; dense but somehow flaky and light.

These were really good. The husband and I have been snacking on them for the last few days, and they hold up really well. Someone suggested putting butter on them, which I can definitely see as a possibility for one of these fresh out of the oven or even toasted. All melted butter with the little pops of lemon and the creamy ricotta… mmm. Maybe for breakfast!

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