Golden Hour At The Pie Shop

Warm Potato Salad

There were so many great stuff last week at the farmers market that I sort of randomly grabbed a bunch of stuff. I bought some fingerling potatoes, tiny sweet peppers, 1 bunch of shiso leaves, 1 bunch of Thai basil, purple long beans, a box of shallots, and a garlic. While on the way home, riding the train, I was thinking what I should do with all the things I bought. Maybe a vegetarian version of the 3 cup chicken with the Thai basil? Or maybe a pasta with the sweet peppers and shiso leaves. Then I went online and posted the stuff I got and see if anyone had any new/fresh ideas. Then a friend suggested potato salad. I thought...YEAH! I had a bottle of Kewpie mayo, mayo is a must in potato salad for me.

I decided to keep things simple by just slicing and roughly chopping everything. To make it more simpler, I kept all the ingredients raw and just have the heat from the cooked potatoes sort of bring all the ingredients together.

I rarely make anything delicious but this was so darn good. I ate a whole pound of potatoes in one day. Then this past weekend, I made it again but this time I measured things out.

So here it is....

1 1/2 lb of fingerling potatoes 3 shallots 6 tiny sweet peppers (or more if you really love peppers) Handful of shiso leaves Handful of Thai basil 1 tablespoon plus a splash of mirin 2 tablespoon soy sauce 2 tablespoon of Japanese mayo Drizzle of sesame oil Pinches of salt + pepper

Clean the potatoes then put them in a pot. Add enough water to cover the potatoes and then add salt to the water. Put the pan on high heat. Cook the potatoes till tender which is about 10mins after the water starts to boil. Or you can check the doneness by sticking a knife into the fattest potato. There should be little resistance and should slide off the knife easily. When done, pour the potato and water through a colander and then pour the potato back into the pot to keep warm.

Thinly slice the shallots and put them into a bowl. Add the potatoes into the bowl with the shallots. Toss to mix.

Roughly chop the Thai basil and shiso leaves. Thinly slice the peppers. Add everything in with the potatoes and toss to mix.

Add the mirin, soy sauce, sesame oil, and Japanese myo. Mix well

Season to taste with salt and pepper

Optional After boiling, I used a knife to roughly cut the bigger potatoes in half. I like the look of the potatoes. If you cut them when raw, they look too clean for me. I wanted the "rustic" look with the rough edges.

Also, I added few dashes of Japanese chili powder cause I've been craving spicy foods. Obviously you don't need to.

Back In August

Time needs to slow down

Tattoo Project: Amanda

Current occupation: Social Media Manager for Zagat

What made you decide to get your first tattoo? I had been wanting wings on my back for at least five years - for flying, not for anything about being an angel which sometimes people say - so when I graduated college and was about to move to New York, it kind of felt like now or never.

How many tattoos do you have? Five at the moment.

Any special tattoos or ones that are more memorable? They're all special and memorable - either for who I with when I got them or what they represent to me or just the way they look. I've got the Detroit "D" because despite the negative attention and press that city gets, I'm rooting for it every day. My most recent tattoo of a whale is probably the most beautiful and gets me a lot of attention from random people and that's because Amy Shapiro, the artist, does some amazing work.

What made you decide to work in the food world? When I moved to New York I had no money so I had to find interesting ways to eat cheap. I got tips and advice on where to eat from the people I met and learned there were a TON of options and I wanted to try them all. I started a (now defunct) food blog which led to my first real venture working into the food world doing social media, marketing and events for The Mermaid Inn and Mermaid Oyster Bar, which was an awesome experience.

Favorite meal in 2014 Had a recent team dinner at Uncle Boons that I can't stop talking about. Also Fitler Dining Room in Philly and Fat Rice in Chicago.