Thursday, July 3, 2014

Old-Fashioned Party Potato Salad @LucyBurdette


Big bash with the family
LUCY BURDETTE: As a kid we often celebrated holidays with my aunts and their families--my mother did not love to cook, but she loved holiday spreads. And these always included potato salad. (My mother's in the brown dress, I'm just to the right.)

Janet and Barbara goofing around
My Aunt Barbara was usually in charge of the potato salad. She had to make several kinds, because someone wouldn't eat onions and I wouldn't eat eggs and so on...(These were NOT allergies--they were preferences. She was more accommodating than I would be:)

But I started to think about those hard-boiled eggs--why shouldn't they be a main ingredient? What if I left out all the fancy stuff--the onions, the celery, the pickles, the peppers, the capers--and went back to something basic? Here's what I came up with--we decided we like it quite a bit, but as always, tinker away until it feels like yours!

Ingredients

6 medium red potatoes
2 eggs
Heaping tablespoon of fresh dill
1 tsp celery seed
1/2 tsp celery salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp cider vinegar
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
2 heaping Tbsp Hellmann's mayonnaise (I used the kind with olive oil)

Wash the potatoes, cut out any unappealing spots, and cut them in half or quarters, depending on size. Boil them gently until they are soft. Cut them into slices when cool.


 In another pan, boil the eggs about ten minutes and let them cool in the hot water.


Stir together the oil and vinegar and dill and marinate the warm potatoes in this mixture. 

Meanwhile, mix the other ingredients--the celery seed, celery salt, mustard, and mayo, and add fresh black pepper to taste.




Slice the eggs and add them to the potatoes. 










Fold the mayo mixture into the potatoes and eggs and taste to correct the seasoning.

 



Serve in a pretty bowl with grilled anything! Here's hoping you have a wonderful holiday weekend with all your favorite relatives and friends-- and food!


 Lucy is the author of the Key West food critic mysteries. DEATH WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS coming this December!

 Follow her on Pinterest, Facebook, or Twitter.


 

8 comments:

  1. My mom makes the best potato salad ever (according to all the grandkids). Hers is very basic; she puts in lots of eggs and makes her own mayo - adding it while the potatoes are still warm. There is never any leftover!!!! I like her's but I prefer adding olive oil and vinegar to mine. Enjoy your 4th of July.

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  2. Isn't it funny that there's such debate over the "best" potato salad? French (a la Julia Child) vs. German (creamy). Or like chowders--New York vs. New England. Hey, I'm half-Irish--anything with potatoes is fine by me!

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  3. Clever you to add the vinaigrette while the potatoes are warm. Really seems to make a difference.
    Who figured out the hard boiled egg slicer? Think about it--someone thought "Hey, cutting these with a knife doesn't work well. There must be a better way. I know! I'll take these (piano?) wires and hook them up somehow to do the cutting."

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  4. I don't think anyone in my family ever used celery salt in a dish.. We're the egg, red and green pepper style of tater salad.

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  5. Isn't it funny how there's always one person in charge of the "special potato salad?" That was my grandmother, and to this day, I'm wary of anybody else's potato salad. (I can make her recipe, so I'm safe.) Eggs are another thing: I always thought they were weird, until this year I ate a deviled egg and it was yummy! Good to try new things :-)

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  6. I love this post, Roberta! The pix are fabulous and what a spread on that table. This potato salad sounds wonderful and I can't wait to try it.

    Have a great day tomorrow.

    XO

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  7. Thank you everyone for the comments--I was on the road yesterday so didn't get online Hope you all have a wonderful holiday with the potato salad of your dreams.

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  8. Lucy, this is how I make potato salad. Love it! Travel safely!

    Daryl / Avery

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