Sunday, June 04, 2006

When Life Hands You Lemons...

Turn them...

Into this!


Lebanese Potato Salad

... you could make plain old lemonade, or you could try one of the following dishes: Lebanese potato salad, light and luscious lemon bundt cake, or lavender lemonade.

I've been buying lots of organic lemons as of late. For a while, they were sitting in a bowl with some grapefruit, looking pretty. But then I decided to put them to work.

I first tried Lebanese potato salad at Marie Catrib's, a phenomenal restaurant in the East Hills neighborhood, where I used to live. I'll admit that their version is a little better than mine, but every time I make this, I end up eating it as I go instead of waiting for in to chill in the fridge.

Lebanese Potato Salad

6 medium red potatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 or 3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 bunch parsley, rinsed and chopped
sea salt

Boil potatoes until tender. Drain and allow to cool. In a large bowl, mix together potatoes, garlic, lemon juice, and parsley. Add salt and adjust seasonings to taste. Chill and enjoy.

I made the lemon bundt cake from a recipe in the latest issue of VegNews Magazine. I'm not posting the recipe because a) you should pick up a copy at your local independent bookstore and b) I made more than one substitution in the recipe, and although the flavor was good, the cake was more dense and doughy than light and luscious.

To wash everything down, I made some lavender lemonade. Simply steep 1/4 cup of dried lavender in some simple syrup for about 20 minutes, strain, and add to your lemonade.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey! You have a photo of yourself!

Rachel said...

Yes, aren't I just gorgeous?