Autumn Salads: Potato-Egg-Spinach salad

There's a local place called Cafe via Roma which serves a splendid version of farmer's salad called the Dolomiti.   It consists of crispy diced potatoes, eggs, red onions and a sweet vinaigrette mixed with field greens. (My current theory this is a delicious, westernized edition of Cretan Potato Salad.) It's one of my favorite things. I was hungry for something along those lines today but wanted to take a crack at it myself.

Being lunchtime, but willing to follow my vision, I decide to take out a little early and dash over to the grocery store. I didn't have time to dice and boil red potatoes, as I would have preferred, but, amazingly, Ore-Ida of all companies has a product called Steam-n-mash potatoes, which consists of nothing but diced cooked potato. remembering this from a former dinner emergency that demanded mashed potatoes in the blink of an eye, I hypothesized that this product would work equally well for pan-fried potatoes. Now, some people call pan-fried diced potatoes "hash browns," including Martha Stewart, from whom I learned the exact method used here, which is why around our house we call it "Martha 'Taters." Personally I consider hash browns the byproduct of browning shredded potatoes on a diner grill, and sometimes in my nonstick skillet. Which one is correct? Who knows. Let's not get bogged down by semantics.

I also picked up some precooked bacon- lately it seems like all the pre-made breakfast product I buy that's made by Jimmy Dean has been golden. They make the best precooked turkey breakfast sausage on the planet. (At least of the kinds that can found in grocery stores in the midwestern US.) I also grabbed a new dozen eggs, as we were in need. And would nearly be again, after this meal.

I put some oil in an iron skillet, brought it to temp, put in some of the frozen spud cubes and covered it, cooking them on medium. Meanwhile, I hard boiled some eggs. We use a method that either comes from Julia Child, or James Beard. Neither Abbey nor I can remember anymore. It's devastatingly simple- and I say "devastatingly" because for a long time I couldn't make a properly boiled egg to save my life. Since Abbey turned me on to this method, I haven't messed up one boiled egg, not one. Suffice to say the first perfect egg was devastating enough, but it always knocks me out how foolproof this is. Simply place the eggs (six, in this case, as Olivia likes hard boiled eggs), cold, in a sauce pan with maybe five inches of water and turn on the heat. Bring it just to a boil, turn off the heat, lid it and take it off the burner. Do something else for a while. If I recall correctly, wait three minutes for soft boiled, five to seven for hard boiled. Is that right? I waited about seven and it was perfect.

As you know, my initial vision of this salad was a mixed green salad with warm potatoes. While describing my project to Abbey, she was forming a vision of a take on German potato salad. That seemed better to me,  and a bit more comforting. October 2009 is about to go in the history books as the soggiest and coldest October in Missouri history. Today, it's raining and a little nippy- no surprise at all.  So something warmer than a green salad was sounding good. We decided to use up our fresh baby spinach for this meal, and I made a sweet apple cider vinegar vinaigrette to help everything meld.

So, for your pleasure, our potato-egg-spinach salad, which is half farmer salad, half warm German potato salad.

Ingredients

One standard grocery store container of baby spinach
Two bacon strips, thinly shredded or minced
half of a red onion, sliced very thin, in half rings
2 cups cooked and cubed potato
2-4 eggs, hard-boiled
1/3 cup canola or other light oil
3-6 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/4 tsp dijon mustard (not country style)
3 to 5 tablespoons sugar (I used normal granulated, but I bet brown or demerara would be good)
a piece or two of homemade or artisanal whole wheat bread (I used La Brea's Organic Wheat loaf- yummy)
salt to taste

Wash and dry the spinach and place in a salad bowl.

put a tablespoon or two of canola oil in an iron or nonstick skillet on medium heat. When warm, put the potatoes in there, more or less in one layer, and lid it.

Meanwhile, start your eggs- cold from the fridge, in cold water at least 5" deep, on high temp, and thin slice onions.

Doublecheck the potatoes. When the bottoms are browning, daub potatoes with a little butter, put a plate that is wider than the skillet on top of the skillet, and carefully flip it all over, being careful not to burn yourself. Pick up the skillet, put it back on the burner, and slide the potatoes in one gesture into the pan, so they stay browned side up. Takes a little practice but it is totally doable. re-lid, unless you need to cook bacon- here's a great place for it. Chop it finely and toss it in with the half-finished potatoes. Don't re-lid in this case.

take the eggs off the heat when it's just coming to a boil. put the lid on and take off the burner. Make a note of the time- they should sit there three minutes for soft boiled, five to seven for hard.

Meanwhile start the dressing. Add three tablespoons of cider vinegar to the third cup canola oil, add three tablespoons sugar, the mustard and a dash of salt. whisk.  test for sweetness and acidity. I usually use twice the amount of vinegar and another tablespoon of sugar, you may not like it that strong though. Whisk until smooth and thickened.

when the potatoes are almost done, put in the onions and let them cook a little. Also add the precooked bacon, if you are using that. After a couple of minutes of sauteeing, dump it all into the salad bowl.  Follow with the dressing and toss.

Toast the bread. Peel and chop the eggs into quarters. add as many as you like (we used three). toss them in the salad lightly, taking care not to tear them up too much. Cut the toast into cubes and toss on top.

That's it! Hearty, warm, sweet, sour, filling, green-y... Perfect for a gray, wet day. We followed up with a nice cup of black Assam tea. Feeling pretty good right now.

It's not a diet... it's not a diet...

Might as well say it plainly: I am overweight.

I haven't measured my BMI or anything, but I feel physically uncomfortable in various ways every day, and I've gone all pear shaped.

I've been fighting this for years- just about when it was supposed to become a struggle for me, it did. I didn't watch my weight in my thirties, and I slid into my forties too heavy. Subsequent efforts to lose the extra flab have had no effect. Granted, I haven't really stuck to anything, and therein lies the rub: most of us drop our plan to get healthier when there's no sign of improvement after only a short period of time. This is why the experts suggest lifestyle changes, not some sort of behavior that is radically different than standard operating procedure- like adopting a weird diet.

A recent study (granted, there is probably another study that contradicts it) reveals animal protein to be a major indicator in the development of cancer. Not good, even if it's a case of correlation rather than causation. Correlation could just mean some aspect of the meat-eating lifestyle increases the risk- still something to consider. Plus, there is the fact that one in two Americans will have a problem with cancer or heart disease. The connection between saturated fat and heart problems is well documented.

Let's add the following risk factors: I'm mostly sedentary (office drone). I'm 45. and my dad had double bypass surgery in his fifties.

A plant-based diet can reverse weight problems and atherosclerosis. A plant-based diet is easier on the environment. A plant-based diet circumvents the feedlot industry, which is creating an environmental disaster with its toxic runoff and treats its animals horribly.

At bare minimum, we should be seeking humane as possible sources of meat- but that isn't always available. I wrestle with the issue of whether it is right or wrong to eat meat at all, under any circumstances. But every time my inner voice says it's wrong to kill animals for food, another inner voice reminds me this is something humans have been doing since before we moved into caves. It's hard to definitively call it "right" or "wrong" in this context. Some have argued that, since humans have enough ability and intelligence to eat something else exclusively, we have a moral obligation to do so. Again, I'm not sure if I am swayed by this argument.

While I decide what I believe about the ethical implications of eating meat, I've decided the heath benefits are undeniable. So I'm going to try to work as many fruits and vegetables in my diet as possible. I'm not going to give up meat (yet?).  I am already a flexitarian,  just not as strict with myself as I need to be.  If I did move on to vegetarianism, it would be of the lacto-ovo variety- in fact, I was a lacto-ovo vegetarian once for almost ten years.   Cheese and eggs are both good sources of calcium and protein (and fat, yes; all things in moderation). Right now, this is more about deciding to try something that I will most likely stick to. I liked being a vegetarian. I may do it again.

So tonight, my wonderfully supporting wife and I had an old favorite- eggs poached on a bed of wilted baby spinach. Situated some crusty toast under each egg along with the spinach that had melded with the egg. For added veggie fun, we diced and sauteed red peppers in olive oil, tossed with basil and sprinkled it on the eggs. Absolutely delicious!