Smashed Red Potatoes and Creamy Summer Slaw

Here are the recipes for the side dishes that we served with the braised short ribs last week.

First up is Smashed Red Potatoes -  Janis was here and did all of the work while I of course forgot to take pictures of her doing it! This was a nice different potato side dish that I will definitely be making often. Click here to see where I found this recipe.

note: I bought a bag of red potatoes and of course there were different sizes in the bag; when I boiled them I didn't check to make sure they were all cooked enough, so a couple of the big ones were a little hard in the center which made smashing difficult. Next time I'll buy bulk potatoes and choose a uniform size!

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• ingredients:
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• 12 whole red potatoes
• extra virgin olive oil
• garlic powder to taste
• kosher salt to taste
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
• optional: chopped chives or chopped bacon for garnish
• other: table salt for boiling water
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directions:

1. Fill a large, heavy pot two-thirds full of water. Generously sprinkle table salt into water, and bring to a boil. Add potatoes and cook just until they are tender when pierced with a fork. Don't overcook them. Remove potatoes and drain.
2. Preheat oven to 450, with rack on upper middle position.
3. Cover a large baking pan with foil. Brush foil with plenty of olive oil (be generous, as this prevents sticking.)
4. When potatoes have cooled enough to handle, gently press down each potato with a potato masher until they are about ½ inch thick. Lay smashed potatoes on prepared pan. Generously brush tops with olive oil, and don't be shy here!
5. Sprinkle tops generously with kosher salt, pepper, garlic powder, and chives/bacon if you are using. Don't be afraid to use enough salt.
6. Bake 20-25 minutes, or just until nicely browned and sizzling!
7. Eat while they're hot.

I also made Creamy Summer Slaw, click here for the recipe from Bon Appetit. I've never made this before and was so pleased with how it turned out - it's a keeper for sure. It's raw broccoli, sugar snap peas, and napa cabbage in a buttermilk dressing, delicious and different - and another great thing is that you can make the salad 6 hours ahead of time, love being able to do the salad earlier in the day. I followed the recipe exactly other than I added some thin apple slices to it - I don't know why, it just sounded like it would be good in this slaw haha...and it was!

I peeled what I could of the broccoli stems so they would be very thin ribbons, then chopped the tops very small

the ingredients before tossing: broccoli, purple napa cabbage, sugar snap peas and apple. 

tossed in a buttermilk dressing - so good!

Both of these are winner recipes - you should try them!