Beach House Menus + Thai Noodle Salad

One of my favorite things about going to Maine each summer with our great and good friends is the opportunity to plan the day around what we're going to cook for dinner.  Over the years, some dishes have become "must haves", things we make each year, but we also try out recipes from the summer crop of  cooking magazines.  I brought a stack of recent issues to go through, and had my recipe collection on my external hard drive to supplement where needed (and it wasn't needed this year), plus I had forwarded a couple of good sounding recipes to my friend ahead of time.

We went through the cooking magazines, and found some good looking recipes, then counted the number of days we'd be having dinner at the cottage vs. going out (only 2 nights out this year), and the number of people we were likely to have for each meal.  We made up a rough menu by night, and came up with grocery lists for a couple of days at a time so that we didn't have to do all the shopping at once and fill up the fridge past capacity.  This meant a couple of extra trips up to town, but gave us flexibility where needed in terms of what looked good, what we were in the mood for, and whether we wanted to swap out any recipes based on available time or inclination.

So, for future reference, here are the menus from our week at Popham Beach.  I'm including links to the recipes themselves where possible.  Any items marked with an "*" are things that we tend to make every year.

Sunday

Chinese Chicken Salad * (I will share this recipe soon)
Fresh Corn
Bumbleberry Pie (from the farm stand)

Monday

Five-Spiced Grilled Chicken with Hoisin-Maple Glaze (Fine Cooking, July 2011)
Thai-Style Vegetable Rice Noodles (Cooking Light, June 2012)
Moroccan Carrot Salad with Spicy Lemon Dressing (Food and Wine, July 2012)
Bumbleberry Pie

Tuesday

Swordfish Marinated in Soy Vay Veri Veri Teriyaki marinade (available at Trader Joe's)
Orzo with Dried Mushrooms and Country Ham (Food and Wine, June 2012)
Moroccan Carrot Salad (leftovers)
Bumbleberry Pie

Wednesday

Tandoori Salmon (Food and  Wine, June 2012)
Angel Hair Pasta with Creamy Pasta Sauce with Fresh Herbs (Silver Palate Cookbook) *
Grilled Broccoli with Chipotle-Lime Butter (Food and Wine, June 2012)
Mixed Vegetable Hash
Blueberry Pie (from the farm stand)

Friday

Steak Skewers with Scallion Dipping Sauce (Bon Appetit, July 2012)
Creamy Potato Salad with Tarragon and Chives (original recipe)
Green Beans with Parsley and Sesame Tahini Sauce (Fine Cooking, June/July 2012)
Moroccan Carrot Salad (leftovers)
Fresh Corn
Blueberry Pie

Others may disagree, but my favorites from this summer's menus were the Five-Spice Grilled Chicken, the Thai Noodle salad, and the Steak Skewers.  As you can see from our menus, we also really liked the Moroccan Carrot Salad, and thought that it improved with age.  Plus, it made quite a lot, so we had ample opportunities to use it for leftovers.

I am going to share my version of the Thai Noodle salad, along with the adjustments that I made to the recipe.  I can hardly wait to make it again -- it was that good!

Thai Noodle Salad
Adapted from Thai-Style Vegetable Rice Noodles (Cooking Light, June 2012)

Ingredients:

16 oz. uncooked flat rice noodles

1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
1 cup sliced fresh basil, cut into thin strips (chiffonade)
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
4 tbs. fresh lime juice
1 tbs. Thai fish sauce

4 tbs. peanut oil
3 tbs. grated peeled fresh ginger
8 garlic cloves, minced
2 red jalapeno chiles,seeded and minced
1 cup chopped unsalted, dry-roasted peanuts

1 cup diced radishes (optional)

Preparation:

1.  Cook rice noodles according to package directions.  Drain and rinse under cold water; drain and set aside.
2. Combine rice noodles with green onions, basil, cilantro, mint, fish sauce and lime juice in a large bowl, and toss well.
3. Combine oil, ginger, garlic, and chiles in a large skillet over medium heat; cook for 2 minutes.  Add peanuts and cook for an additional 2 minutes until fragrant.
4. Add nut-chile mixture to noodle mixture and toss well.
5. Serve immediately.  Pass diced radishes as garnish, as desired.

Serves 8

Creamy Potato Salad with Tarragon and Chives

Have I told you about our passion for tarragon - aka, "the spice of life"?  I think I may have alluded to this when I last wrote about tarragon in my post about the herb garden at the ranch.  An update: the herb garden this summer is smaller than intended, and largely situated around the base of tomato plants.  Alas, no tarragon was available at the beginning of the season, so we will have to continue to buy tarragon at the grocery store.

Now to the inspiration for this recipe.  We were planning a Fourth of July barbecue, and wanted to have a potato salad as a side dish.  I generally don't care for potato salad unless I'm making it and know exactly what went into it.  I was thinking of a way to make potato salad that might taste like one of our favorite recipes, New Potatoes in Tarragon Cream (described in this post).  I searched through my recipe files on my computer, and found a recipe from Bon Appetit in the June 2007 issue that sounded good (Creamy Potato Salad with Lemon and Fresh Herbs).  Actually, I found several recipes that sounded good -- that, after all, is the reason I save them!  I made notes as I was cooking, and I'd have to say that this recipe is an "adaptation" rather than an "inspired by". 

Most importantly, this potato salad is really, really good!!  So good, I'm going to make it again next week when we're at the beach in Maine.  I want to share it with our good friends, and try it as a side for another great bbq main dish (or should I say "Maine" dish).


Creamy Potato Salad with Tarragon and Chives

Ingredients:
3 lbs. red potatoes, peeled
1 tbs. grated lemon peel (from 1 lemon)
1 stalk of celery, minced (about 1/3 cup)
1/3 cup minced red onion
2 tbs. fresh tarragon, chopped
2 tbs. chives, minced
3/4 cup mayonnaise (I used a light mayonnaise)
4 tbs. rice vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Bring potatoes to boil in a large pot of water.  Reduce heat to medium low, and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.  Make sure the potatoes are tender all the way through to the center, not just on the outside.
2. Drain the potatoes, and set aside until they are cool enough to handle.   (I did the chopping of the other ingredients as the potatoes cooled.)
3. Cut the potatoes into 3/4" cubes.  Place 1 layer of potatoes in a large bowl, and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of rice vinegar, and salt and pepper.  Continue layering potatoes with vinegar, salt and pepper.
4. Add remaining ingredients, and stir to combine.  Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
5. Do ahead: this can be assembled up to 8 hours ahead.  The flavor improves upon chilling.

Serves 8