Bacon Potato Salad

You know we like a certain food item so much when it gets replicated in my kitchen. Siempre because it would be too costly and cumbersome to keep going back to a certain restaurant to get your fix of that favorite, di ba?

Pancake House's Warm Bacon Potato Salad is one such favorite of ours. My second son still orders it everytime we come to dine in Pancake House, but it's still a delight that I can whip up a batch anytime the craving kicks.

Pancake House serves this salad warm, maybe because it's freshly made and hadn't had time to chill. But it still tastes great at room temp and even chilled.

BACON POTATO SALAD

What's In It?

500 g potatoes
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and minced
100 g bacon, fried to a crisp, drippings reserved
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
Alfalfa sprouts (for garnish)


Kitchen Conjugations:

Wash potatoes well and cook in boiling water until fork tender. Remove from fire, drain water and set aside potatoes to cool.

Break bacon into bits.  Set aside.

In a salad bowl, make the dressing by combining mayonnaise and Dijon mustard. Add in about a teaspoon of bacon drippings and the minced onion. Add a pinch of salt and pepper and stir to combine.  Do a taste check of the dressing, adding a little more salt or pepper if needed.  Set aside.

Cut the unpeeled, cooked potatoes into chunks, and combine onto the mayo-mustard dressing.  Toss to coat well, adding the bacon bits.

Serve on a bed of lettuce garnished with alfalfa sprouts and more bacon bits.  Enjoy!

Tuna Garden Salad

My mom comes home from Australia for a vacation every two years and stays with me.  As she misses Filipino food and I miss her, we make up for lost chances by indulging in what she likes. When she leaves, she leaves with excess poundage, but is not worried, confident that she'd easily lose the weight because she won't be indulging in Aus as much as she did back here.

Meanwhile, ako, not as lucky.

So in attempt at a 'Balik Alindog' program, I'm trying to eat light dinners such as this.

TUNA GARDEN SALAD

What's In It?

For the Salad:

3 cups shredded mixed salad greens (Romaine, Lola Rossa, Iceberg lettuce)
1 small carrot, peeled and sliced into thin wedges
1/8 cup black olives, pitted and sliced
1/8 cup green olives, pitted and sliced
2 salad tomatoes, halved and sliced into wedges
1 small red onion, peeled and diced
1 can tuna flakes in brine

For the dressing:

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon Knorr seasoning
2 teaspoons honey or brown sugar

Kitchen Conjugations:

Wash and dry salad greens; transfer to a serving bowl.  Garnish with the other salad ingredients.

In a separate bowl, combine ingredients for salad dressing, stirring well to ensure the sugar is dissolved.

Pour dressing onto salad and toss.

Som Tam (Thai Green Papaya Salad)

Want something different for your side salad? Try Som Tam (Green Papaya Salad). It's easy, tangy and the ingredients available from the supermarket.  It's light on calories and light on the pocket too!

SOM TAM

What's In It?

1 small green (unripe) papaya (about 300 g.), peeled and sliced / prepped for grating

a small bunch of string beans (about 6 strings), cut into 1" lengths

5 cherry tomatoes, quartered

2 tablespoons dried shrimp 

5-6 Thai chilies, chopped

juice from 4 pieces of lime (about half a cup)

4 tablespoons brown sugar

4 tablespoons fish sauce

5 cloves garlic, peeled

1-2 tablespoons roast peanuts, coarsely chopped or ground (optional)

a few stalks of coriander, chopped (optional)

Kitchen Conjugations:

Grate the papaya using a cheese grater or a mandolin. Transfer to a deep dish and set aside.

Using a mortar and pestle, crush garlic.  Add chilies and pound slightly. Add the string beans and quartered tomatoes, pound slightly to bruise them and release some of their juice into the mixture. Add in the sugar, fish sauce, dried shrimp, lime juice, ground peanuts and coriander (if using). Pound the mixture some more to release juices. Mix using a spoon or spatula to evenly distribute the flavors. Let stand for about two minutes to allow flavors to meld.

Check and adjust taste. Pour the dressing over the grated papaya and toss. Serve as a side salad or as an appetizer. Enjoy!

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Notes:

1. Local names for the ingredients:  dayap (lime), wansoy (coriander) and patis (fish sauce).

2. Some people are averse to the smell of wansoy.  It is highly optional and may be used only for garnish.  (So you may add it at the last minute instead of pounding it with the other ingredients.) Wansoy looks so much like Kinchay, but smells and tastes very differently.

3. Ideally, there should be a delicate balance of the sweetness from the sugar, tartness from the lime, saltiness from the fish sauce and spice from the chili. But go ahead and up the ante for one or two of the taste you prefer.  

4. A cheese grater will give you either fine shreds or wide but flat shreds. I used an inexpensive mandolin (kitchen slicer/grater set similar to the one pictured below) I bought for a mere P100.00 in Sta. Cruz.  (I use this same tool when I make pancit and I am able to get shredded/sliced carrots, chayote and beans in jiffy.) 

(I got the kitchen slicer picture here.)

5. I was in a hurry and wasn't able to take pictures while cooking.  To see step-by-step pictures, you might want to visit ThaiTable.

Macaroni Salad

In most Filipino households, the making of salads -- macaroni, potato, fruit -- herald festivities or an important occasion.  I remember around Christmastime, or during my birthday, my lola would usually be found boiling potatoes or chicken breast or both to make a big batch of macaroni or potato salad.  The salad gets stellar billing on the dining table, and whatever's left after noche buena or after the party gets distributed in mayonnaise jars to neighbors and/or relatives who are more than happy to receive them. 


In my case however, I made macaroni salad as a way to break the potato salad fixation pervading in our house. :) I've made potato salad two nights in a row, which my sons took to school as baon, and happily gorged on again upon coming home.  When they egged me to make potato salad a third time, I said, "Tantanan na ang potato salad, puede ba? Macaroni salad naman! (Let up on the potato salad, will you? Let's move on to macaroni salad!)"


Because salads are fairly easy to make, as all it takes is the mixing and tossing together of ingredients, there are as many versions of a particular salad as those who make it. This recipe therefore is but a drop in the bucket, so to speak, but I'm posting it just the same because I've been requested to do so. :)  This version also is my lola's version, updated just a wee bit. :)

MACARONI SALAD

What's In It?

400 g Del Monte salad macaroni, cooked al dente
1 470 ml pack (about 5 cups) Best Foods Mayo Magic all-purpose dressing*
1 250 ml pack (about 3 cups) Lady's Choice chicken sandwich spread
1 chicken breast, skinned, boiled and flaked
1 large scallion (red onion), peeled and minced
1 large red bell pepper, minced
3-4 stalks celery, minced
1 medium or 2 small carrots, peeled and diced finely
1 can Del Monte crushed pineapple, syrup drained and reserved
3-4 cooked ham or luncheon meat slices, diced (optional)

Kitchen Conjugations:

Mix all ingredients in a large mixing bowl, ensuring the dressing is well distributed to coat the other ingredients.  Check taste, adjust by adding sugar or salt or a little of the drained pineapple syrup if necessary, in order to achieve a good harmony of the tang, sweetness and saltiness.  Serve chilled. :)

Notes:

1. I add ham, luncheon meat, hotdog or sausage slices -- whichever is in my refrigerator -- to boost flavor as chicken breast is kind of bland.  It also adds color and texture, therefore interest, to the salad. :)

2. Feel free to use leftover fried or roast chicken if that's what's you have available instead of boiled chicken breast. Use any part, not just the breast, but be sure to flake or chop it into small bits.

3.  Add raisins if you like.  I didn't because my sons are not raisin fans. :)

4.  If you'd be using regular mayonnaise you may have to sprinkle a little sugar, salt, ground white pepper into the mix as mayonnaise is usually unseasoned.   Both the Mayo Magic and the chicken sandwich spread I used here already had salt, spice and sugar in them so I didn't need to add any, and so they are not mentioned in the recipe.


5. Like I always say, I am an oido cook...I do not measure while cooking. So the measurements here are approximations of what I think were the volumes of the ingredients I used. I suggest therefore that you start with the smaller values first (i.e., if I say 1 to 1 1/2, try 1 first) and just adjust or add seasonings, spices or dressing little by little until you get the desired result. :)