in the kitchen with Bette
Though she has whittled down her once ample figure, Bette Midler still loves food. Not just eating it-she also enjoys preparing favorite dishes in her New York City apartment, where the kitchen-dining area is the heart of her home.
Below, two special Recipes:
TUNA SALAD
“For starters, you have to use tuna in oil-screw this tuna-in-water stuff;” Midler says. Then add two different kinds of pickles: dill and sweet gherkins. Crumble up one hard-boiled egg, chop up the pickles and some celery, and mix all the ingredients together with mayonnaise. “Hellmann’s,” Midler specifies, “or Blue Ribbon, which I buy in New Orleans.” Add salt, pepper, and “a tiny, tiny bit” of chopped onions “if you have a taste for it.”
POTATO SALAD
“This is my mother’s recipe, but then my husband sort of took it over,” Midler says.” I use plain old boiling potatoes, he uses Yukon gold.” Boil the potatoes and, when done, remove the skins and slice. Take some mustard powder, some chopped onions, chopped celery-how much depends on what you want the texture to be- and a tablespoon or two of sour cream. “First you have to make a sauce of the dry mustard, some mayonnaise, and the sour cream-but go easy on the sour cream.” The main part of the mixture should be the mayonnaise, Midler advises. Add one crumbled hard-boiled egg to the potatoes, celery, and onions, and then combine with the mayonnaise mixture. Finally, add Midler’s secret ingredient: a splash of pickle juice. Apparently, it makes all the difference.
Good Housekeeping, October 2000
