With the 4th of July holiday weekend approaching here is the basic potato salad recipe and one with a twist to make it more colorful and tasty.

Basic recipe

1 lb of potatoes
4 tablespoons of mayonnaise
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon grated or finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon of chopped parsley.

Peel potatoes and cook in boiling water until slightly firm.  Let them cool slightly so that you can handle them.  Cut into small chunks.

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1 8- to 10-pound beef brisket

Beef Brisket Rub:
1/2 cup kosher salt

1/2 cup ground black pepper
1/4 cup garlic powder

1/4 cup onion powder
2 Tbsp. Chinese five spice

1/4 cup brown sugar

Mix all ingredients and apply to whole brisket. Refrigerate overnight before cooking.

You can cook the brisket in a smoker/grill, but only by indirect method, so that it will cook slow and low.

If you are using a gas grill, only turn on half the jets, placing the brisket in a pan on the opposite side of the grill where the jets remain off.

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If you’re in love with the classic, old-fashioned flavors of strawberry-rhubarb pie, now’s the time to make your move, because we’re coming up on the back-end of the season for both strawberries and rhubarb.
Strawberry-rhubarb is an easy pie to make, but a hard one to get right. This recipe is an old-fashioned, deep dish, State Fair kind of pie, evolved by way of recipes from the classic Farm Journal’s Complete Pie Cookbook edited by Nell B, Nichols, and a book called 365 Pies You Can Bake, by Lois Hill, both out of print.
This recipe combines both flour and cornstarch as thickening agents to balance the pie between too soupy and too dense. It uses both white and brown sugars for a more robust flavor, and includes orange juice concentrate and orange peel to bring a citrus-y edge to the natural tartness of the pie.

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Chow mein, spelled chao mian in the Pinyin Romanization system used for Mandarin Chinese, means “fried noodles”. It is the one variant of noodle-cooking from China that is widespread in the US. Like its rice-based counterpart, chao fan (fried rice), it is a lightly seasoned dish full of vegetables, meats, and seafood. Chao mian and chao fan are quick and easy one-dish meals, especially for the solo cook.Don’t be limited by the vegetables used in this recipe. You can use whatever fresh vegetables you have on hand. Carrots, broccoli, and mushrooms are reliable favorites that add a lot of flavor and bulk to this dish. Shiitake mushrooms are a wonderful addition. Keep dried shiitake mushrooms in your pantry. They are easy to reconstitute and provide an earthy, mushroom-flavored broth that you can use in cooking.

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INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

2 (14.5 ounce) cans Italian-style diced tomatoes
1 (19 ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
10 ounces fresh spinach, washed and chopped
8 ounces penne pasta
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

DIRECTIONS

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente.
Meanwhile, combine tomatoes and beans in a large non-stick skillet. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes.
Add spinach to the sauce; cook for 2 minutes or until spinach wilts, stirring constantly.
Serve sauce over pasta, and sprinkle with feta.

Ingredients
1/2 pound elbow macaroni
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon powdered mustard
3 cups milk
1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 large egg
12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh black pepper
Topping:
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup panko bread crumbs
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.

While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.

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The Summer Entertaining issue of America’s Test Kitchen, on newsstands now, has some great-looking recipes to try. It's got a slice of Raspberry Chiffon Pie on the cover.
    Here are the recipes I have my eye on:
    • Strawberry Poke Cake: This classic cake is so named because 50 holes are poked in the top to let the strawberry syrup, poured on top, soak in.
    The cake, a simple vanilla version, is baked in a 13 by 9-inch pan. The syrup, with strawberries as the main ingredient, also has unflavoured gelatin in it. This is poured on top of the cake, with holes punched in, and allowed to set.

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Barbecue enthusiasts get very touchy when people confuse their craft of slowly melting meat to succulence with the act of mere grilling, that is, slapping protein onto well-oiled grates.

But haute grillmeister Adam Perry Lang honors both techniques in "Serious Barbecue," a comprehensive yet approachable new book from Hyperion that promises a full summer of tasty and relaxed outdoor cooking.

The book does little to dispel the idea of outdoor cooking as a man's game, but it does offer excellent tutorials on the basics and offers more than 100 intensely flavorful recipes that can shepherd your grilling skills from novice to expert.

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I love skirt steak for many reasons, but mostly because it is the one steak that pleases the rib eye lover and the fillet lover at the same time. Plus, when your guests are around the table asking, "what's in this?" or saying, "I love skirt steak." There is nothing better than that!
Skirt steaks take a marinade very well and when grilled to medium rare gets a crusty, tender chew.  Cooked over natural briquettes, the meat sears and cooks super fast.  Don't forget to let the steaks rest for at least 10 minutes.  They will stay hot and it is worth it to keep all the flavor in the meat and not running on the plate.

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A pasta frittata sounds fancy, but it's nothing more than leftover pasta mixed with eggs, cheese and flavorful tidbits, then fried like a pancake and sliced into wedges. It's the ultimate picnic fare: It's finger food, and it tastes best at room temperature. In this version I used spaghetti, asparagus, leeks and bacon, but it can be made with virtually any combination of cooked pasta, vegetables, cheese and/or meat. (Here's another recipe for a pasta frittata with pesto, one of my favorites.)
For the best flavor, make the frittata in the morning and let it sit uncovered at room temperature until it's time for your picnic. It loses its deliciously crispy texture if it's refrigerated.

1/2 lb spaghetti
4 slices thick bacon, diced
1 large bunch asparagus, ends trimmed, chopped
3 large leeks, sliced (white parts only), thoroughly washed
salt and pepper
9 eggs
1 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
3 Tbsp olive oil
Preheat broiler on high.
Cook the pasta in lots of salted boiling water until al dente. Drain and dump into a large mixing bowl. Let cool.

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