Potato Salad

Those bags of prepacked greens aren't just for salads. Some lend themselves to form the base of nutritious and delicious dressings for salads and sandwiches. Here, we're combining baby arugula and using its peppery flavor with the oniony tang of chives and orange juice. The beauty of these bold ingredients is that you can substitute low-fat mayonnaise for the full-fat variety and not miss a beat of flavor. Because we squeezed a fresh navel orange to supply our juice quotient, we decided to use the rest of the fruit as a garnish.

Planning a backyard party in the warm days ahead? Take your cues from cultures that have summer entertaining down cold. From the Mediterranean to Southeast Asia, room-temperature buffets are mainstays for celebrations on the terrace, the beach, the patio or the town square. Putting a few cold dishes on the menu works, too, if you know some simple tricks for keeping them chilled.The beauty of such an outdoor buffet is that most of the work can be done in advance; the only last-minute task is arranging an attractive spread of food.

Summer is most certainly the time for cold salads. And outdoor entertaining can be as simple as a buffet of delicious "dish-up" salads with some great bread and wine. Or, combine them with the more traditional act of throwing a few steaks on the barbie.Let's start with potato salad. How many versions can there possibly be? Sweet German, mustard and eggy Mom's style, hip sweet potato with spicy chutney dressing, baked potatoes with bacon, chives ... just like with all the fixin's.The recipe I've included is Greek style, lightened up for hot weather with lots of veggies -- cucumber, roasted pepper, onion -- and red potatoes, all tossed with fresh oregano and feta cheese.

The granddaddy of Baltimore brew pubs, which was also the city's first Cajun restaurant, recently lost the chef and part-owner who put it on the map. Bill Aydlett left Sisson's because he'd had enough of the restaurant business, at least for a while. He passed on his pots and pans to a former sous chef, Bill Rothwell, who had also worked at Pierpoint and the Oregon Grille.Pretty fancy for a scruffy little Federal Hill bar. Of course, Baltimoreans know Sisson's is more than that; but walk into the dim, noisy, crowded bar and you'd never guess there's a pleasant little dining room in back where you can get crawfish spring rolls with a mango dipping sauce or salmon fillet with a smoked salmon and horseradish crust and warm fennel potato salad.

There could be hamburgers or hot dogs or ribs or chicken at summer cookouts, but potato salad will probably accompany all of them.The potatoes can be peeled or unpeeled. The salad can contain celery or celery salt or celery seeds. There can be mustard or parsley or boiled eggs, radishes, onions or chives. The dressing can be a vinaigrette, sour cream and yogurt, olive oil and vinegar, but most likely it's mayonnaise.You can make potato salad all summer the way you've always made it, which is probably your mother's recipe laden with mayonnaise and pickles and hard-boiled eggs.

You've had a long, hard day at work and stopped off at the gym before you made your way home. You're too tired to cook, too tired even to eat out. You're the ideal candidate for the hottest new trend in the food industry, "home meal replacement" - which happens to be as old as a 1950s' frozen dinner.The difference is that the '90s version of the fried chicken, mashed potatoes and peas in the little aluminum tray is something like this: boneless chicken breast marinated with fajita spices and grilled, pasta salad with sun-dried tomatoes and capers, and haricots verts - all sold by the pound under the label "gourmet to go."

When it comes to spices, it's a case of use 'em or lose 'em, because most lose potency after a year or so. Here's a list of easy-to-find spices and some dishes they can enhance, from the American Spice Trade Association.Allspice: sausages; Jamaican stews; fruit pies; winter squash.Anise: Fish and shellfish (put seeds in the poaching water); cottage cheese; cream-cheese dips.Caraway seeds: cabbage; pork or veal stews; roasted potatoes; sauerkraut; potato salad.Cardamom: cakes; pastries; fruit dishes; curries; pilafs; punches; spiced wines.

In yesterday's A La Carte section, an incorrect amount of vinegar was listed in the recipe for Potato Salad and Prosciutto. The correct amount is one-quarter of a cup.The Sun regrets the error.Pub Date: 7/11/96

In yesterday's A La Carte section, an incorrect amount of vinegar was listed in the recipe for Potato Salad and Prosciutto. The correct amount is one-quarter of a cup.The Sun regrets the error.Summer food has its own set of edible icons, recipes that show up as predictably as daffodils in spring and football games in the fall.Grilled burgers, potato salad, barbecue sauces, bean salads and fruit cobblers are some of the most enduringly popular entries of the season.Do we love them? You bet!

Potatoes are one of the most versatile of foods. They can be used in many ways. In addition to classic vichyssoise, the usual scalloped potatoes, picnic salads, potato chips and fries, there's potato gnocchi, even potato risotto. Many chefs cook up herb-laminated potato chips -- potatoes are sliced very thin lengthwise, leaves of fresh herbs are sandwiched in between, then brushed with butter and baked until crispy with the herbs showing through. In a trendy fashion, potatoes are shredded and crusted around fish, which is then seared, giving it a delicious crunchy coat.

I walked the length of the westbound Lake Shore Limited as it left Albany last Sunday, six crowded coaches, and counted three Twitterers and a couple of phone texters, six laptoppers (two of whom were watching movies), four video gamers, and 27 people reading books. Books made of paper! Turning the pages with their fingers one by one, reading the lines left to right, just as people have done for hundreds of years. Ain't that something? I didn't lean down for a close look at the books they were reading - I was not brought up to do that - so perhaps bodices were being ripped and stalkers were stalking and meteorites were heading straight for earth, but no matter.

My mouth waters for traditional Baltimore summer cooking, a commodity that seems to grow more elusive. Then, on a recent trip to Rehoboth Beach, Del., came a revelation: remarkable coleslaw. It was served at a grand Baltimore institution that has moved - Jake's Seafood House, run by the Klemkowski family, who for years seemed to have a corner on good food in Locust Point in South Baltimore. I'm not a seafood eater, so why do I go to Jake's? Because the owners are old-time South Baltimoreans who know how to make coleslaw.

Salary: $40,000 Age: 27 Years on the job: Two : How she got started: After completing a bachelor's degree in religious and African-American studies at the University of Virginia, Laderberg decided to go into the hospitality industry. She worked as a line cook, oversaw a high-end boutique and eventually ran a bed-and-breakfast. She then opted to go back to school and earned a master's degree in hospitality management at Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration in New York.

Eggy potato salad and 2006 Guillemot-Michel Macon-Villages Quintaine Clesse, France $21. Distributed by Kysela Pere et Fils This wine has crisp fruit and well-balanced acid that Cochran and I thought would cut through the creamy goop of the potato salad. The goop prevailed. The wine, however, at 14 percent ABV was quite good by itself or paired with another warm-weather staple, the tuna-fish sandwich. Rob Kasper

The Memorial Day weekend launches a joyous spree of outdoor grilling and dining lasting until the first frost. Nothing matches the flavor or the pleasure of sharing a patio or backyard meal. But if you think grilling is best suited to larger households, be assured that fire and food are well-suited to a household of two. Most small charcoal-fueled grills and hibachi cooking units have enough surface space to accommodate an entree, such as beef or fish steaks, chicken breasts or kebabs.

Those bags of prepacked greens aren't just for salads. Some lend themselves to form the base of nutritious and delicious dressings for salads and sandwiches. Here, we're combining baby arugula and using its peppery flavor with the oniony tang of chives and orange juice. The beauty of these bold ingredients is that you can substitute low-fat mayonnaise for the full-fat variety and not miss a beat of flavor. Because we squeezed a fresh navel orange to supply our juice quotient, we decided to use the rest of the fruit as a garnish.

Few side dishes divide people like potato salad. We like just enough mayonnaise to coat the hunks of potatoes and chopped celery and onions, but we're open to other recipes as well. While we're sure none of these four orders is as good as your mother's or grandmother's version, each has redeeming qualities. Edmart Delicatessen Inc. 1427 Reisterstown Road, Pikesville -- 410-486-5558 Hours --8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays; 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Sundays In and out in --4 minutes This was the only order to include shredded carrots - a tasty addition - with the diced celery and mayonnaise.

As I think about the Fourth of July, somehow I smell vinegar and my grandmother's approach to the holiday observance. Lily Rose made potato salad. Like most of her cooking, the dish was simple, but don't ask me how she made it. All I remember is that it tasted good on the first day, better on the second - if there were any left. She was never into food styling, but the potato salad went a white bowl with bold red polka dots. Her iced tea went into a big azure bowl decorated with Concord grape leaves.

MORE THAN MEMORial Day, or even the last day of school, my mother's first potato salad signaled the official start of summer. A family favorite, it went with just about everything. Barbecue ribs, fried chicken, hot dogs, hamburgers -- anything that can be cooked on a grill or served on a bed of lettuce. But what potato salad means to me may be very different than what it means to you. There is no single recipe for potato salad. It varies from region to region, family to family, and even among members of the same family.

My favorite thing about the Edelweiss Bakery & Cafe in Hamilton is the display of bride and groom figures that go on top of the wedding cakes the bakery turns out. How about a traditional model with groom standing next to bride? Or perhaps a more energetic pairing with the groom holding the bride in his arms? There's something reassuring about the display and, indeed, the whole Edelweiss experience, which is all about modest prices, tradition and familiarity. It's a place in the heart of Hamilton where you can pick up a sandwich for lunch if you left yours at home that morning - and the sandwich is prepared the exact way you would have made it at home.