Older Bolder Life

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salads

The Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Old School Broccoli Salad (Bacon and Pepitas!) with a Twist

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Now and again I’m reminded that so many of the great recipes we all enjoy today are really just updates of classics that have been around for decades (or longer); today’s Old School Broccoli Salad (Bacon and Pepitas!) with a Twist is a perfect example.

Though the details are a bit fuzzy, I remember as a young child decades ago turning my nose up at a fresh broccoli salad prepared by my Ma-Ma (maw maw, maternal grandmother) at her beach house on the Texas coast.

She was a GREAT old-style, Texas coastal cook – she could work wonders with fresh shrimp, fish, and crab, and spent many an hour slaving over a blistering gas stove in the un-air conditioned kitchen cranking out meals for the clan that always seemed to be in attendance.

I’m sure her broccoli salad (with a classic mayo or Miracle Whip based dressing) was damned tasty as well, though to my 6 or 7 year old mind at the time, it was worth a hard-fought battle to avoid even touching it, much less eating it. We didn’t eat fresh broccoli back in the day around our house, and the frozen blocks of broccoli that were available back in the day didn’t convert many broccoli skeptics around our dinner table.

Fresh broccoli salad still showed up on the buffet tables of my youth at family, friend, and church gatherings, and I’m sure somewhere along the way I’m mustered up the courage to try some (probably to please some girlfriend’s mother or aunt); the dish otherwise stayed off our radar until years later.

Living in San Antonio during graduate school was an eye-opening experience in so many ways, including the burgeoning foodie culture there. As Texas is today, San Antonio was a melting pot of a variety of food cultures and traditions, and among those were some great classic Texas barbecue sides – including updated broccoli salads.

These were still largely mayo-based, but included toasted nuts (often pepitas or pecans, red onions, bacon, and raisins, dried cranberries, or even dried peaches from Fredericksburg.

Over the years we found ourselves subbing in a mustardy or balsamic based vinaigrette for the classic mayo dressing, and have finally settled on this mustard-based version as our standby.

Several thoughts on the dressing – I usually end up using half avocado oil and half good EVOO for the oils, and we find that while any vinegar works here, the combination of apple cider vinegar and red wine vinegar is our favorite. Likewise use any mustard you want, classically it would have to be Dijon, though I’ve been using a coarse, spicy mustard of late with this recipe and it’s incredibly tasty.

The recipe is written to make a big batch, we usually eat it all the day it’s made, but this is one of those rare salads that gets better over the next day or two.

1 and 1/2 pounds broccoli florets, chopped
1/2 cup* toasted pepitas (almonds, sun flower seeds, pecans, etc)
1/2 cup* red onion, chopped fine
1/2 cup* crispy bacon, chopped medium (3-4 slices)
1/2 cup* dried tart cherries or cranberries
Optional
1 jalapeño pepper, stemmed, cut into thin slices
1 medium carrot, thinly sliced or grated coarsely
(*or more)

Dressing (see note above)
1/4 cup avocado oil
1/4 cup EVOO (the good stuff)
3-4 tbsp good vinegar (ACV, red wine vinegar, etc)
1-2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1-2 tbsp good honey or maple syrup
1-2 large garlic clove (minced or pressed)
2-3 tsp good fresh ground pepper
1/2 – 1 tsp fine sea salt

Toast the pepitas, and cook, cool, and chop the bacon.

Prep the vegetables and place in a large bowl, add the optional dried fruit, nuts, and bacon.

Mixed all dressing ingredients in a small bowl or lidded jar, then whisk / shake until well combined and emulsified. Taste and adjust for acid/vinegar, mustard, sweet, and salt.

Pour the dressing over the vegetables in the bowl, stirring to mix well, evenly distributing all the goodies and coating them evenly with the dressing. Chill for at least 30 minutes before giving the salad a good stir at service.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Smashed (Resistant) Potato Salad with Italian Sausage and Aioli

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Today’s Smashed (Resistant) Potato Salad with Italian Sausage and Aioli is posted in homage to the upcoming Memorial Day weekend; at least in years past this was most often a time we’d meet with friends in somebody’s big backyard to grill, play volleyball, and cultivate our early season sunburns and tall tale telling abilities.

I truly hope you’re scheduled to spend time with friends and family this weekend, and have some great food on the menu.

My other intent in posting this recipe was to remind folks of the health benefits of resistant starches, and share a recipe using potatoes – something that most of us eating lower carb tend to avoid in lieu of better choices. Don’t forget that cooked and cooled potatoes are a wonderful source of resistant starch, and here’s another great summer recipe to throw in the resistant starches are good pile…

This is a hearty potato salad, in fact my wife thinks it’s a meal in itself given the inclusion of a hearty Italian sausage (buy or make some quality fresh sausage); the aioli adds a load of healthy fats and a truckload of rich flavor as well.

I can’t imagine this without the dusting of ancho chile powder, but by all means consider that optional, and while the aioli recipe might sound complicated (if you’re not making mayo at home already), it’s a piece of cake.

Enjoy your long weekend.

Roughly 2 lb red-skinned potatoes, trimmed
Kosher salt

1/4 cup + up to 1/2 cup avocado oil, divided
1 medium sweet onion, chopped fine
1 small poblano pepper, stemmed, seeded, chopped small
3/4 pound fresh hot Italian sausage, casings removed
2 large egg yolks
1 large garlic clove, finely grated
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 to 1 tbsp ancho chile powder
3-4 green onions, white and green parts, thinly sliced on the diagonal

Prep the spuds, place in a large pot and cover with cold water; season liberally with salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer under tender (20-25 minutes). Drain, let cool in a colander, then throw in the fridge for at least overnight and preferably 24 hours.

On the day you’re making the salad, preheat the oven to 450 and remove the spuds from the fridge.

Heat 1/4 cup of avocado oil in a skillet over medium high heat, then add the onions and poblanos and cook until they’re beginning to soften (about 5 minutes). Add the sausage, and breaking it up with a spoon cook until well-browned and cooked through (6-8 minutes). Now transfer the sausage to a fine meshed sieve placed over a measuring cup and let the oil drain; press on the solids occasionally – you’re looking for roughly 1/4 cup of sausage oil. Add up to 1/2 cup more avocado oil to get to 3/4 cup.

Now it’s time to make an aioli, and you have two options. Classically, you would combine the egg yolks, grated garlic, and a teaspoon of water in a bowl, then slowly whisk in the sausage oil until thickened and smooth (adding the lemon juice at the very end, along with salt to taste).

Alternatively, combine the egg yolks, grated garlic, a tsp of water, and the lemon juice in a small cylindrical container just bigger than the head of your immersion blender, add the oil all at once, and then use your immersion blender to quickly whip up your aioli (my preferred method, and the one we use for making mayo here). Set the aioli aside (I threw it in the fridge as my kitchen was warm that day…)

Now smash the spuds with either your palm or a coffee mug bottom; you don’t want to totally destroy the integrity of each potato, but create some cracks and tears and flatten them a bit. Drizzle with a couple of tbsp of avocado or olive oil, season generously with salt, and throw in the oven until crispy and golden brown in spots and especially along the edges (25-28 minutes, turn once).

Now to finish things up – combine the roasted spuds, the sausage mixture and half the aioli in a large bowl and stir to mix well. Spread the remaining aioli on a platter, top with the mixture in the bowl, sprinkle with the ancho chile powder and the chopped green onions.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Carrot and Peanut Salad

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I’ve shared in a number of posts over the years that my family has fairly deep roots in the South, mostly Texas, and my wife and I have been profoundly influenced by the fascinating amalgam that is the ever-evolving Texas food scene these days.

That said, we still both have family recipes we remember from our childhoods, recipes passed down through several generations, and that have stood the test of time and continue to grace the table now and again.

One of those very recipes is this venerable Carrot and Peanut Salad, an almost absurdly simple combination of textures and flavors that just work together, and it’s simple enough a child can put this one together in under ten minutes without a recipe.

As always, the quality of your ingredients make the dish; you’ll want fresh, crispy, organic carrots for this dish, along with roasted peanuts (watch those roasting oils), and a fresh batch of avocado oil mayo. Now and then I’ll use half avocado oil mayo and half sour cream or Greek yogurt just to mix things up a bit (they both add a bit of tartness to the salad as you’d expect).

After washing and prepping the carrots all you need to do is grab your trusty box grater and grate away (high brow folks from the Northeast may call that shredding) until you have enough for your meal – I usually prep 4-5 large carrots for a recipe.

Start with a generous half cup of peanuts (you can always add more) and mix in your avocado oil mayo (or sour cream or yogurt) to your desired level and you’re ready to head to the table.

As with all recipes consider this the most basic framework to start from; this recipe is delicious (and visually interesting) with multicolored carrots, finely chopped jalapeños or other peppers, and with a variety of other nuts – our favorite “other nut” for this one is toasted pepitas…

Enjoy, and never let anyone argue otherwise – complex recipes aren’t always better.

Cheers.

The Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Clay’s Potato Salad

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For the first time in over four years as we’ve traveled the low carb and nutritional ketosis roads, and for several reasons, we’ve dug out an old family favorite recipe for the best damn potato salad we’ve ever tasted – Clay’s Potato Salad.

Quite frankly, we’ve not eaten potatoes of the non-sweet potato variety in years, and sweet potatoes rarely when the need for a carb-refeed arose, so this indeed is a departure for us.

For those eating along classic Primal or Paleo paths, and pending both your activity levels and carb tolerance, dabbling now and again with potatoes certainly isn’t verboten, though your neighborhood keto police might disagree.

We’ve dug this recipe out (and cleaned it up) mainly because it tastes so damn good, and has been part of our family food lexicon for years and years. It’s probably so delicious in part due to the inclusion of bacon and even incorporating a bit of the bacon drippings into the salad (trust me on this, it’s magical).

I’m also back into training for Masters level track and field events now that the COVID-19 embargo on events is nearing the end, and find myself lagging from a performance standpoint a bit on my leanest carb days. Finally, cooked and cooled potatoes are a great source of resistant starch, which we’ve been experimenting with a bit around our camp of late, and appear to be the form my wife best tolerates.

My lovely wife and I first tasted this recipe now nearly 40 years ago. We were living in San Antonio as I finished grad school; only during our most affluent weeks did we have two nickels to rub together. We lived in a tiny apartment, survived on a food budget of less than $40/week, tromped all over San Antonio for free entertainment and were happy as could be.

A young couple we knew, fellow paupers in grad school downtown, lucked into house sitting for one of her professors one summer. They had a charming old English tudor at their disposal with a gourmet kitchen and an exquisitely landscaped pool in the backyard.

It was there on a hot summer day that we first tasted this brawny, classic potato salad recipe. Bacon was a splurge for us back then; it was nothing short of ambrosial that afternoon. We stole the leftovers and rationed them out over the next week.

Like all great recipes that foodies hoard, we’ve tweaked this one around the edges and definitely lean toward a tart, spicy, full-of-crunchy-vegetables mix, and have changed out the old for healthier dressing ingredients to align with a primal/paleo palate. That said, the nuts and bolts of the recipe remain the same.

Finally, like all salads of this sort, this recipe is ultimately customizable to suit your family’s tastes and what’s in the fridge and pantry; amounts shown in the ingredient list below are to be considered rough guidelines.

And a word to the wise – don’t skimp on either the mustard or the pickle juice.

2 medium sweet potatoes, cut into 3/4-inch slices
8-10 small to medium new red potatoes, halved if bigger
1 pound thick-sliced bacon in 1-inch pieces, crisped and drained, reserve drippings

1 large sweet onion, small to medium dice (more as desired)
6-8 stalks celery with tender leaves, chopped
1 red bell or Mediterraneo Dulce pepper, seeded and diced
1 cup chopped kosher dill pickles

1 tbsp seasoned salt



1/2 cup avocado oil mayo (see below)
1/2 cup full-fat Greek yogurt (see below)

1/4 to 1/2 cup prepared yellow mustard (see below)
Pickle juice to taste (see below)
Paprika

Optional
4 boiled eggs, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 cup sliced pickled jalapeños
1/2 cup chopped green onion, white and green parts
1/2 cup sliced green olives
Mustard, whole grain

Boil the scrubbed and trimmed spuds until fork tender, rinse under cool water until you can handle, then dice medium. Place in a large bowl.

If you’ve not already done so, fry the bacon crisp and set aside to drain well. Pour the hot bacon drippings over the spuds and make sure to scrape all the brown, crusty goodness out of the pan. Crumble the bacon when cooled and set aside.

Chop and dice the sweet onion, green onion, celery, bell or other pepper, dill pickles, and other optional goodies from the list to the potato bowl. Add half the crumbled bacon.

Sprinkle the growing mixture with the seasoned salt. Start by stirring in at least 1/2 cup each of the mayonnaise and yogurt and 1/4 cup yellow mustard, knowing full well that it won’t be enough.

At this point we like to stir in the pickle juice (our tradition calls for using quite a bit to add a punchy vinegar bite to the salad), we add a couple of big spoons of whole grain mustard and then add more mustard and mayo/yogurt to get it to the consistency desired. How much you’ll eventually need will depend on personal taste and how soft your spuds are.

Smooth the top, dust liberally with paprika and sprinkle with the remainder of the bacon. Note this potato salad is very good after resting in the fridge for 4 hours and great the next day, you want it good and cold for the best flavor and to set those resistant starches.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Curried Roasted Sweet Potato and Cauliflower Salad

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Like many (if not most) of you, we’ve been looking forward to a turn toward the summer season for a host of reasons this year, given the bizarre journey we’ve all been on for the past three months. Not to mention the simple fact that we all love the fun the summer season brings.

Astrological summer of course doesn’t being for another three weeks, though count me among those who sort of spiritually look at Memorial Day as the advent of summer. During all the time we lived and worked in Montana, as often as not it snowed sometime the last week of May, often in town but almost always in the high country. We’d chuckle at relatives down in Texas complaining of the early advent of summer’s heat, though now that we’re down in North Texas as I write this, with a forecast week of temps pushing 90 or better on the docket, the arrival of summer seems all the more real.

We love the summer (year round really) grilling season around our camp, and are almost always looking for great salads to accompany our favorite proteins off the grill.

I’ve been playing off and on with a roasted sweet potato and cauliflower salad for a few years now; we’ve found several flavor combinations that we resonate with, but I have to admit, I’m not a huge fan of roasted and cooled cauliflower from a texture perspective. (Texture matters.)

We have a couple of raw cauliflower salads we often reach for, including this long time family favorite, so recently I stole a page from that recipe and left the cauliflower raw but roasted the sweet potatoes in this Curried Roasted Sweet Potato and Cauliflower Salad, adding in a healthy handful of roasted red peppers, crunchy celery, and red onion, along with a Southwestern themed spice array + good curry.

Leaving the cauliflower raw adds a delightful crunch, as does the celery, and crisp roasting (in a pan) the sweet potatoes adds a bit of caramelization to the equation too. This salad, like any and all you make at home, can be customized to suit your family’s tastes – for instance, in making this batch, my lovely wife had forgotten to grab a red onion on her last shopping excursion, so I just added a sweet onion (Vidalia’s are in!) instead. Next time around, I’ll probably add a tablespoon or two of capers as well….

If your schedule allows, make this an hour or more ahead of time to let the flavors meld, and my clan thinks it’s even better the next day.

1 and 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1 and 1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1 and 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp good curry powder
1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne powder

4 cups cauliflower florets, cut into 3/4-inch pieces if needed
2 medium sweet potatoes, trimmed, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1 cup roasted red peppers, well-drained, diced
3/4 cup celery, including tender leaves, thinly sliced
1/2 small red onion, trimmed, julienned
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
1/3 cup avocado oil mayo
1/3 cup full fat Greek yogurt
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
Good salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Garnishes: 2-3 green onions thinly sliced, more chopped cilantro, more diced red pepper

Trim and cut the sweet potatoes to size, then sauté over medium-high in avocado oil until browned and beginning to caramelize around the edges. Set aside to cool.

In a clean, dry small skillet over medium heat, toast the three seeds until fragrant (keep them moving in the pan). Transfer carefully to a spice grinder and grind to a fine powder. Transfer to a small dish with the curry and cayenne powders.

Into a large bowl go the toasted spices, diced peppers, celery, onion, cilantro, lemon zest and juice, mayo, yogurt, salt, and pepper; stir to combine well, then add the potatoes and cauliflower and stir until evenly coated. Taste and adjust for salt, pepper, and curry.

Transfer to a serving bowl if desired and garnish using any and/or all of the garnishes.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Salad Monday: Curry Vinaigrette

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We’re always on the lookout for interesting and flavorful vinaigrettes, not only for the obvious use as salad dressing, but as a quick dip or drizzle for proteins and vegetables, and even for folding into homemade avocado oil mayo to fancy things in the spirit of a high-brow, flavored aioli.

I’ve shared recently that we’ve also been on something of a curry blitz of late now that the weather has finally cooled off here in North Texas, and this Curry Vinaigrette has caught my wife’s eye in particular.

Admittedly the tablespoon (or a tad less) of curry powder sounds like a lot – it is – but the acids (vinegar of your choice below and the lemon juice) really balance this dressing out nicely, as do the garlic and dijon mustard notes. By the way, I’ve made this using a coarse-grind Creole type mustard and it was delicious as well.

Given the use of fresh garlic this dressing should be used within a week of making it; ours is always gone within a day or two!

1/2 cup avocado or good olive oil
1 tbsp (scant) good fresh curry powder

3 tbsp apple cider vinegar, white wine vinegar, your choice
2 garlic cloves, minced or grated
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp good Dijon mustard
A grind or two of fresh ground pepper
Good salt to taste

To get started, bring the curry powder and your oil of choice to a gentle simmer over medium heat in a small saucepan, then remove from heat and cool.

When the oil has cooled, combine your vinegar of choice, the lemon juice, the prepped garlic, and the Dijon in your trusty blender, then stream in the curry oil (with the motor running of course) to make a smooth, thick emulsion. Add the salt and pepper, adjust to taste, and go to it.

Will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Enjoy.

The Older Bolder Life Vegetable Monday: Curry Dressed Carrot and Beet Salad

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Here’s a somewhat unusual salad we’ve recently been playing around with as part of our all things curry run we’ve been enjoying the past few weeks – a Curry Dressed Carrot and Beet Salad. It’s one you can put together any time of year given the availability of the root vegetables, and would certainly fit very well on a well-rounded holiday table these next few months.

While I happen to love beets in just about any form, my lovely wife is a bit more skeptical, and she originally thought this dish might be too ‘beet-forward’; no problem – slicing the beets very thinly (mandoline ideally or by a careful hand) and salting them for a short time softens them yet keeps the beets delightfully crunchy.

We thought the real star of this salad was the curry vinaigrette; it’s ridiculously easy to put together, very well balanced (not bitter at all with the amount of curry), and delicious. We’ll be pouring this dressing over salads and other roasted vegetables all winter…

1/2 cup avocado or good olive oil
1 tbsp good fresh curry powder (see note above)

3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 garlic cloves, minced or grated
1 tbsp good Dijon mustard

3 -4 small to medium beets, peeled, thinly sliced on mandoline
3-4 medium carrots, peeled, shaved into ribbons with a veg peeler or a spiralizer
Lemon juice to taste
Good salt to taste

Optional
1/3 to 1/2 cup toasted pistachios

Over medium heat in a small saucepan, bring the curry powder and you oil of choice to a simmer, then remove from heat and cool.

While the oil is cooling, we like to go ahead and prep the beets, place them in a medium bowl, sprinkle with generous pinch of salt and let them rest for 10-15 minutes (they soften slightly). When the time has passed, come back and prep the carrots and add to the bowl.

To make the dressing, combine the ACV, the prepped garlic, and the Dijon in your trusty blender, then stream in the curry oil (with the motor running of course) to make a smooth, thick emulsion. Taste for salt and adjust, then pour over the vegetables, tossing gently.

Season with a spritz of lemon juice, taste and adjust for lemon and salt one final time, and top with the toasted pistachios if using.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Salad Monday: Quick Cucumber, Mint, and Onion Salad

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Now and then we like to throw together a quick salad for dinner or lunch; mostly on those days when my task list is long and time is short, and we’re hungry for some tasty, crunchy greens with a bright, interesting dressing.

This Quick Cucumber, Mint, and Onion Salad is one that we’ve been reaching for over and over again lately as we amble through a warmer than average fall season here in North Texas. With decent knife skills this one literally requires five minutes or less of hands-on prep time, is bright and colorful, and the mint adds a nifty flavor profile that’s a little out of the ordinary.

You can use any onion you have on hand; the salad is prettier with a red onion thinly sliced in (the last time I made it my only red onion had gone off, so a sweet white onion went in the salad in the pictures). Don’t have any Persian cucumbers at your market today? English cucumbers work great as well, and are pretty much available year round.

And play around with the vinegar; the recipe calls for unseasoned rice vinegar, though we’ve made it with a champagne vinegar we happened to have on hand and it was delicious as well.

6-7 Persian cucumbers, sliced thin OR
2 English hothouse cucumbers, sliced thin
1/2 small to medium (red) onion, thinly sliced into strips
1 and 1/2 tsp good salt, more to taste
1/4 unseasoned rice vinegar, though see note above
1/2 to 1 bunch of fresh mint leaves, torn if very large
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Optional
1 tsp sugar of choice

Prep the cucumbers and onion, then combine gently in a mid-size bowl and toss gently with the salt. Let it rest for 20-30 minutes until the cucumbers begin to release some liquid; gently express as much liquid as you can from the cucumber and onion mixture, then transfer to a clean bowl.

Now toss the vegetables with the vinegar, pepper, and sugar if using, then the mint leaves; adjust for salt and pepper.

Enjoy.