Make a beautiful potato salad with Yukon
Gold and Purple Peruvian potatoes. Photo ©
Svetlana Kolpakova | Dreamstime.

We’re now addicted to wasabi mayonnaise potato salad, wasabi coleslaw, wasabi deviled eggs and wasabi spread on sandwiches and burgers.

• Add a tiny dice of red onion and celery to potato salad. They add flavor plus crunch.
• For the most beautiful potato salad, use a mixture of Yukon Gold and Purple Peruvian potatoes.
• For prettier coleslaw, use a red cabbage and white cabbage mix. We add a tiny dice of red onion, carrot and yellow or orange bell pepper.

If you can’t find wasabi mayonnaise, you can order it online. Our favorite is Green Dragon Lemonaise from The Ojai Cook (read our review).

We also found Spectrum brand Wasabi Style Mayonnaise at Whole Foods Market. It’s USDA-certified organic, OU kosher and uses cage-free eggs. We applaud all that; but we’ll return to The Ojai Cook’s Green Dragon Lemonaise, which has a richer, eggier mayonnaise flavor. Both are available at Amazon.com.

• Find more of our favorite condiments.
• Learn the difference between real wasabi and what most of us get, which is actually imitation wasabi.

Based on tonnage sold to consumers, foodservice and food manufacturers, 10 seafood varieties made up more than 88% of seafood consumption. And you’ve never even heard of #10!

You won’t be surprised at the top 3 on the list: shrimp, canned tuna and salmon. But what is the new fish on the block, #10, pangasius (pan-GAY-see-us)?

You may see pangasius on menus or in stores, under its more consumer-friendly names: white catfish, Vietnamese river cobbler, basa, tra and swai. Farmed in the Mekong Delta in southwestern Vietnam, this mild white-fleshed fish is a less costly substitute for tilapia. It is primarily used in food service, with new growth seen among food manufacturers.

Pangasius: the new white fish. Photo
courtesy Chinguyen.net.

In between shrimp, canned tuna and salmon at the top and pangasius in the #10 position are Alaska pollack, tilapia, crab, catfish, cod and clams.

• See the Top 10 chart comparing 2008 and 2009 seafood consumption.
• To learn more about depleted fish species and which types are environmentally safe to eat, visit Seafood Watch, which includes terrific information from the Montery Bay Aquarium.
• Check out all the varieties of seafood in our Seafood Glossary.

Summer may be unofficially over, but it’s still good grilling weather.

How about a delicious ribeye steak?

THE NIBBLE’s video of the week, featuring Chef Elias Iglesias from Morton’s The Steakhouse, demonstrates how to grill the perfect ribeye steak, expertly seared and juicy. You’ll also learn how to touch a steak to determine if it’s rare or medium.

Red Rhone wines are great with pizza.
Photo by Kelly Cline | IST.

First, our top pick pizzas (use these ingredients at home):

Kudos to Chef Mathieu Palombino from Motorino Pizzeria Napoletana in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, for his outstanding Brussels Sprout Pizza. On a very crisp crust, the chef layered fior di latte (cow’s milk mozzarella), pancetta affumicatta (Italian smoked bacon), fresh garlic and Parmigiano Reggiano. Crisped brussels sprout leaves were sprinkled on the pie after it came out of the oven. It may sound unusual, but the taste is divine.

A plain Margarita pizza from Chef Mark Iacono of Lucali Pizzeria in in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, followed. While we were ecstatically eating the Brussels Sprout Pizza, we commented that it was unfortunate that something so plain was following such a dynamite recipe. Not to worry: Chef Iacono’s combination of mozzarella perked up with some Asiago cheese and fresh basil atop excellent tomato sauce was a revelation.

Made in a wood-burning oven that heats to 925°F, all of the pizzas we tried were molto excellente, with that slightly-charred crust one can only get from cooking over wood. But the award goes to Team Brooklyn.

Rhone Wines
The Rhone wines are so much more elegant than Chianti as a pairing with fine pizza.

Northern Rhone wines are syrah-based. The Syrah grape offers blackberry and currant fruit flavors plus firm tannins. The more complex wines have wonderful aroma and flavor nuances of black pepper, smoke and tar. Look for Crozes-Hermitage and Côte-Rôtie appellations.

Southern Rhone wines are Grenache-based (the same grape used to make Beaujolais). Grenache producers fruitier wines—cherry, currant and/or raisin flavors, with softer tannins than Northern wines. The better-made wines have aromas of black pepper, licorice and menthol. Look for wines from the appellations of Côtes du Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape AOC
Vacqueyras and Gigondas AOC.

• To train yourself in aromas and flavors, get the original Wine Aroma Wheel, developed by a professor at the University of California at Davis, America’s leading school of wine education. There are other products called “wine wheel” but they’re not anywhere as helpful.
• For free, you can study our Wine Descriptors page. 

Yet beans are not just tasty; they’re an important and inexpensive source of protein that has been cultivated by man for more than 7,000 years.

Oxygen magazine’s new book, Pick It Kick It, offers this tip:

• Soak beans for several hours or overnight in cold water.
• Change the water before cooking.

See our Bean Glossary to discover many beautiful beans. There are more than 4,000 cultivars of beans in the United States (and many more worldwide). We don’t feature nearly that many, but you’re certain to make new discoveries.

Make this delicious Bruschetta With White Bean Purée.

Beautiful anasazi beans originated in
New Mexico. Photo by Luciano S. | SXC.