Summer Salads

Maybe potato salad oughta be a year round salad not just for summer. Salad Nicoise is French potato salad, perfect for summer with it's oil/vinegar based dressing instead of mayonnaise. The name itself, Salad Nicoise, sounds like it might take time to prepare, not a plus in summer. In reality, it is nothing more than the dressing - with tuna, green beans, olives and egg wedges....and the potatoes.

Let me start with the tuna. Recently I made a tuna salad sans the canned tuna. Bought fresh tuna and grilled it, broke it into pieces and used it in Sara Moulton's recipe. Some will prefer canned tuna over fresh but I like the fresh.

A typical French type potato salad uses 2 pounds of boiling (red) potatoes boiled until just tender. Remove skins if you want, slice about ¼" thick and place into a large mixing bowl. Add ¼ cup of wine vinegar. Pour over hot, sliced potatoes. Stir gently until all liquid is absorbed. Set aside.

In a small bowl add 2 tablespoons wine vinegar or 1 tablespoon vinegar and 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 teaspoon prepared mustard such as Dijon type, ¼ teaspoon salt. Whisk until salt has dissolved and then add 6 tablespoons olive oil in a dribble. Add chopped spring onions or 2 tablespoons of minced shallots. Pour dressing over potatoes and stir gently.

To make this into a Nicoise, oil both sides of a 6 to 8 ounce piece of tuna. Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides. Cook on a very hot grill for about 3 minutes per side. Break into chunks. Other additions: two or three hard-cooked eggs quartered, 6 to 12 anchovy fillets (drained) and ½ cup of Kalamata olives, pitted. Even more: tomato wedges and al dente green beans. Add all of these to the bowl before you add the dressing. Increase the dressing quantity to make 1 cup which means doubling the above measurements.

Top the salad with a couple of tablespoons of chopped, fresh, green herbs or parsley.

The Ohio State University

The Ohio State University 24

UT at Austin 7

I've been a Buckeye since birth in Ohio... went to school in Columbus, twice. During my earlier years Woody Hayes won a couple of Big Ten titles and some national stuff. Then in the late 70's he seemed to outgrow his clothes...slapped a player during a game...bye-bye, Woody.

After that, football at The University of Ohio was a sometime thing for many years as far as I was concerned. That is until OSU hired a guy from Arizona named John Cooper. Cooper had one of the best records in the Big Ten. But he could not win the only two games that the alumni thought were important - Michigan and the bowl game. His record against Michigan was a disgusting 2-10-1. Why a university would renew a contract before the season is beyond comprehension. But every August, John Cooper's contract was renewed until he was finally fired in 2000.

Along came Jim Tressel and now the program seems to be back on track. The current record vs Michigan is 4-1. And bowl games are a plus also. National champs in just 3 years under Trussel. Smiles all over Columbus.

I belong to a homebrew forum, hdb.org, in which questions are posted one day and many answers come back the next. A well respected contributor who lives in Ann Arbor and attended Michigan answered the question on how to get to Columbus. "Well, from here we go South on I75. When the noise is coming from our left side we turn left and follow the smell." He made that remark just prior to the OSU-Michigan game several years ago. That was the Buckeyes first victory over the never-to-be-loved Wolverines in several years. Seems to me that the aroma in Columbus has improved dramatically.

When I lived in NYC in the '60s, met a guy from Tyler, TX. He's a University of Texas alum and a college football expert/nut. During the fall college football season, in order to prepare for the upcoming games, he researchs the weather forecast for the games. Rain/sleet/snow is a factor on the spread. Last season he was visiting me for the Texas/OSU event. He took a lot of heat during the game but, unfortuntely, it didn't end soon enough for the Buckeyes.

This year he invited me to accompany him to the game in Austin. I declined the offer. Just as well... I probably would have been insufferable. Besides, why watch from nose bleed heaven in the end zone when I can zoom in at home with a homebrew?

OSU and Texas had never been matched for a game until last year. Remember the desperation pass by Vince Young with 90 seconds remaining? Had Trussel started Troy Smith . . . but " wait 'til next year".

This IS next year. And in their sand box. The only drawback that I could see is that dinky little stadium in Austin could only accomodate about 5000 Buckeyes. And this from a state that claims everything is bigger.

Troy Smith was interviewed after the game and said it was not about revenge. Very mature for a college kid. Call it what you want, how sweet it is. 24-7