Bland supermarket button mushrooms shrink and shrivel when sautéed. We wanted more flavor and more mushrooms.

Trying to feed a group of rather talkative women inspired life member Dorothy Bush Turner to come up with this seafood salad. “I was to attend a meeting of about 50 women quilters at a potluck supper,” she explains. “I wanted to prepare something cold because we talk so long that hot things get too cool.” She wasn’t inspired by the recipes she found, so she created her own. “I live in shrimping country on an island, and seafood is always appropriate and welcome,” Dorothy says. “I made a big pot of this dish, and not one piece was left.”

To prepare the asparagus for this salad, we found that broiling concentrates the flavor of the asparagus and lightly caramelizes the peel. We prefer to use thin (under 5/8-inch) asparagus under the broiler-this lets us skip the peeling step and allows the spears to cook more evenly.

Marinating the onions in the hot vinaigrette mellows their flavor. These beans pair nicely with our Turkey Cutlets with Cherry Sauce.

White potatoes can be used instead of Red Bliss, but their skins lack the rosy color of Red Bliss skins. Try to get potatoes of equal size; if that’s not possible, test the larger potatoes for doneness. If only larger potatoes are available, increase the cooking time by about 10 minutes. Check for doneness with a paring knife.

A wonderful sign of spring, asparagus is at its best between March and May. Choose spears with bright green stalks and purple-tinted tips. If you do not plan to cook the asparagus immediately, stand the spears upright in a pan filled with 1 inch of water and refrigerate.

Love potato pancakes but hate the tedious steps of peeling, shredding, and squeezing excess moisture from the potatoes? The Cook’s Country team discovered that frozen shredded hash-brown potatoes are a surprisingly effective shortcut. Don’t want to fry potato pancakes on the stovetop? A preheated oiled baking sheet delivers almost as much crispness, with far less mess.

The cooking time will vary depending on the size of the potatoes. Large potatoes (about 2 1/2 inches in diameter will require the full 18 minutes; potatoes that are less than 1 inch in diameter may be done in just 8 minutes.

CALORIES 190(29% from fat); FAT 6.1g (sat 3.8g,mono 1.6g,poly 0.2g); PROTEIN 4.4g; CHOLESTEROL 17mg; CALCIUM 31mg; SODIUM 454mg; FIBER 1.9g; IRON 1.5mg; CARBOHYDRATE 28.8g

These delicious, nutritious, garlicky greens can be cooked in no time. A perfect last-minute side dish.
POINTS® Value: 1
Level of Difficulty: Easy