A Herbivoracious side dish: Potato and Green Bean Salad with Arugula Pesto

This warm, garlicky potato and green bean salad is bursting with summery flavors of mint, arugula and lemon juice. Recipe below.

We’re trying to eat less meat these days. It’s healthier for us, some would argue, and definitely healthier for the planet. We sometimes do it by having meatless days. And we eat smaller portions of meat when we have it; this is an approach Mark Bittman urges us all to take, to use meat as a flavoring or move it to the side of the plate, with vegetables taking the starring role. In an interview this spring on NPR, he envisioned a scenario in which meat “could resume its proper place in our lives, which is as a treat rather than as something we can eat whenever we feel like it.”

I’ll admit I’m not there yet. When I go more than a few days without eating meat, I miss it. A lot. So when author Michael Natkin told me he’s been a vegetarian for 30 years now, it was almost more than my brain could take in. Marion and I were at a book tour event for Natkin’s excellent new vegetarian cookbook, Herbivoracious: A Flavor Revolution with 150 Vibrant and Original Vegetarian Recipes. Continue reading “A Herbivoracious side dish: Potato and Green Bean Salad with Arugula Pesto”

Potato salad: A classically done American classic

Nothing says summer like a classic American potato salad with mayonnaise, yellow mustard and the crunchy bite of red bell peppers. Recipe below.

Marion’s Classic American Potato Salad

AT OUR HOUSE, A LOT OF THE FOOD WE LOVE is something we’ve come to in adulthood, and even recently. Part of this is because of the great revolution of American eating habits, which has so thoroughly swept up our household. Now so many foodstuffs and cuisines are so accessible to so many of us. We eat not just to live, but to keep ourselves healthy, to entertain our palates and to experience the infinite variations of this most evanescent of art forms. Continue reading “Potato salad: A classically done American classic”