Recipes by Leslie Uggams: Baked Stuffed Bluefish; Summer Potato Salad

Leslie Uggams' Baked Stuffed Bluefish

3 tablespoons soft sweet butter
1 tablespoon minced Bermuda onion
2 tablespoons minced celery
2 cups unseasoned bread cubes
1 1/2 teaspoons minced parsley
pinch poultry seasoning
pinch ground sage
1/2 teaspoon salt
few gratings freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup dried apricots
3/4 cup water
2 1/2 pounds cleaned bluefish
1/2 lemon

Melt one tablespoon butter over low heat. Saute onion and celery in butter until limp. Place in bowl with bread cubes, parsley, poultry seasoning, sage, salt and pepper.

Simmer apricots in water 5 minutes; drain, retaining cooking juice. Chop apricots slightly and add to seasoned bread cubes. Heat 1/2 cup apricot juice to boiling, pour over stuffing in bowl. Toss lightly to blend well.

Line shallow baking dish with aluminum foil. Rub fish inside and out with butter. Stuff cavity of fists, press top and bottom together to close (or secure with skewers). Bake in preheated 350 degrees F. oven 15 minutes or until fish starts to flake. Pour lemon juice over fish during baking. Run under broiler to brown skin. Serve at once with parslied potatoes and cooked string beans. Serves 2.

Leslie Uggams' Summer Potato Salad

1 pound small white new potatoes
Boiling salted water
2 tablespoons wine vinegar
1 tablespoon melted hydrogenated fat (or salad oil)
1 teaspoon salt
2 sweet gherkins, chopped
1/4 cup minced celery
1 hard-cooked egg, chopped
1 tablespoon minced white onion
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
few gratings freshly ground pepper

Cook potatoes in jacket in boiling salted water until tender; drain, peel, dice, place in bowl. Mix together vinegar, melted fat (or salad oil), salt and pepper; stir to dissolve salt; pour over potatoes in bowl, mix well. Cover, refrigerate several hours.

Add gherkins, celery, egg, onion and mayonnaise to potatoes. Mix well. Serve chilled on lettuce cups with chicken salad, sliced garden-ripe tomatoes, crackers and tall glasses of iced tea. Serves 2-3.

Leslie suggests: "Make chicken salad from left-over chicken. Prepare sauce by using mustard thinned with a little milk, boil to reduce. Add vinegar (white), seasonings to taste, put over chicken pieces with diced pickles, celery and mayonnaise. Chill well before serving."