Mashed Potato Salad With Scallions and Herbs from Melissa Clark

  • 2 pound red potatoes, cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks
  • Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon, plus more lemon juice for serving
  • 2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary
  • 1 tsp fine sea salt, more pen
  • 1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
  • Dash or two of hot sauce
  • cup extra-virgin olive oil, more for drizzling
  • 2 tbsp mayonnaise, sour cream or crème fraîche
  • 1 tbsp Dijon or whole-grain mustard
  • ½ cup thinly sliced scallions (white and green parts)
  • ¼ cup chopped parsley
  • 2 tbsp chopped basil or dill
  1. Cook the potatoes in a pot of well-salted water until they are very tender but not mushy, 15 to 22 minutes. Drain well.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together lemon zest and juice, rosemary, salt, pepper and hot sauce. When the salt is dissolved, whisk in the olive oil, mayonnaise and mustard.
  3. Add potatoes to the bowl and mix them very well, until well coated with dressing. Then use the spoon to mash about a quarter of them. You want 1-inch (or so) chunks of potatoes coated in some mashed potatoes. Add scallions and parsley and toss well. Taste and add more salt, lemon juice, hot sauce and olive oil, if needed. Scatter chopped basil or dill over dressed potatoes. Serve warm or at room temperature, but not cold.

best crab cakes


imagesnote: I made 7 cakes, one was small.  I cooked two cakes and used about 2 tbsp butter and a splash of olive oil

1/4 cup panko
1 large egg — lightly beaten
1-2 tablespoon milk
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice — plus lemon wedges for serving
1/2 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
several dashes of hot sauce
1 tbsp minced parsley
3 tbsp mayo
1 lbs lump crab or crab claw meat — picked over
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
olive oil
2 scallions — thinly sliced–optional, I did not use

Mix 1/4 cup panko, and milk to cover in a small bowl let sit for a few minutes. In a medium bowl, whisk the Worcestershire sauce, egg ,mustard, lemon juice, Old Bay and hot sauce; fold in the crab meat, panko mixture and parsley. Shape into 6-8 patties and refrigerate 30 minutes.

sauté in olive oil

-or-

this is the best Melt butter into baking pan of your choice. Form 4 to 6 crab cakes and place into baking pan put in oven at 400. After 10 minutes open oven, tilt pan to accumulate melted butter, and baste crab cakes with butter. Close oven, cook 10 more minutes, baste and repeat until top of cakes are golden brown. Approximate cooking time is 18-25 minutes