Darci Hannah: Last month my husband, who has a home office in the room next to mine, sent me an email with a link to a recipe. No explanation, no “Hey honey, check this out!” no nothing, just a link. I found this extremely odd because my husband seldom sends me emails because he can just walk on over to my desk and tell me what he has to say. But no, I got an email. What was even stranger was that the recipe link he sent was for potato salad and my husband has never eaten potato salad. He hates any mayonnaise-based cold salad, including tuna salad, chicken salad, and my personal favorite, egg salad. He also has never tried the many delicious varieties of pasta salad that the boys and I love so much either. The guy has serious issues regarding cold salads, and in our family he’s the only one with this affliction. So, you can imagine my surprise when I got a link to a cold potato salad.
Of course, I gave a good huff of indignation, stood up from my desk, and marched right over to his. “Why on earth did you send me a link to Italian Potato Salad? You won’t eat potato salad. Is this some kind of a joke?”
Apparently, it wasn’t. As he calmly explained to me, he ran across an article in Health & Fitness Magazine that was extolling the virtues of Italian potato salad, especially for those who are watching their diets. Honestly, I had never heard of Italian Potato Salad, but then again, I’m usually the last person to jump on a food trend. I was just happy he was entertaining the idea of a potato salad. Why this recipe appealed to my husband was because this potato salad didn’t require any yucky mayonnaise, according to him. Also, the starch in a potato that is cooked, then chilled becomes a resistant starch, which is better for you and slower to digest. This caused me to go down the rabbit hole of Italian Potato Salad, inspiring me to come up with my own version. I call this a good starting point. I’ve been making this delicious salad regularly this summer and often add little slices of mozzarella cheese and slivers of hard Italian salami to make it even more delicious. Feel free to add your upgrades!
Italian Potato Salad
Ingredients:
For the dressing:
2 garlic cloves freshly minced
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
For the salad:
2 lbs of small, waxy potatoes like Yukon Gold or red skin potatoes, cut in half
12 oz fresh green beans trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1 medium red onion thinly sliced
1 cup Castelvetrano olives, or whatever olives you like
¼ cup Italian parsley, finely chopped
1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
Directions:
Make the dressing: Using a small mixing bowl whisk together the garlic, red wine vinegar, the oregano, mustard, salt and pepper. Let sit for a minute to allow the flavors to blend, then slowly whisk in the olive oil. Set aside.
Cut the potatoes in half or into 1-inch chunks, leaving skins on. Place them in a large pot of cold salted water and bring the pot to a boil. Let potatoes cook for 10 to 15 minutes until they are tender when pierced with a fork. Remove the potatoes.
Wash and trim the green beans, cutting them into 2-inch pieces. Prepare an ice bath by filling a mixing bowl with cold water and ice. Using the same pot as the potatoes, bring the water back to a boil. Add the green beans and cook for 2 to 3 minutes until they are bright green. The beans should be crisp, not mushy. Immediately transfer the beans to the ice water bath to stop them from cooking further. Drain before using them.
Prepare the remaining vegetables and add them to a large serving bowl. You can slice the onions very thin and add them to the vinaigrette dressing. This will help them mellow and blend with the flavors in the dressing. Zest the lemon and set it aside for garnish.
Add the warm potatoes and cooled green beans to the bowl, toss and add the vinaigrette dressing. Toss again to coat all the vegetables. The warm potatoes will absorb the dressing better and make them more flavorful. Allow the salad to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with lemon zest and serve. Store leftovers in the refrigerator. You can also make this potato salad ahead of time and serve it cold. It’s good either way.
You can print a copy of the recipe HERE!
What's your favorite go to summer salad?
Darci Hannah is the bestselling author of the Beacon Bakeshop Mystery Series, the Food & Spirits Mystery Series, the Very Cherry Mystery Series, and two works of historical fiction, The Exile of Sara Stevenson, and The Angel of Blythe Hall. Darci grew up in the Midwest and currently lives in a small town in Michigan with her husband and two dogs. Darci is a lifelong lover of the Great Lakes, a natural wonder that inspires many of her stories. Passionate about family, dogs, food, baking, history, books, lighthouses, laughter, good conversations, coffee, and the paranormal, Darci feels especially blessed to have found a way to combine her interests in the stories she writes. It brings her great joy to be able to share them with you.
Connect with Darci at www.darcihannah.com
Instagram: @authordarcihannah
Facebook: @Author Darci Hannah
Murder at the Campfire Cookout
By Darci Hannah
Book #7 in the Beacon Bakeshop Mystery Series
When Lindsey Bakewell leaves behind her lighthouse bakeshop, her boyfriend, Rory, and her Newfoundland dog, Wellington, for a glamping trip with her mother in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the bears leave them alone—but a killer doesn’t. . .
Converting the old Beacon Point lighthouse into a bakery is as adventurous as Lindsey cares to get. Her mother, Ellie, a former 80s fashion model, likes her creature comforts even more—until she sees a business opportunity for her Beacon Harbor fashion boutique when she’s invited by the Mitten Kittens Glamping Club on a woodsy getaway.
Far from roughing it, the ladies will be warm and cozy in chic vintage campers. Ellie insists Lindsey come along to win the campfire cookout contest. Campfire cooking has come a long way from bacon and beans. Soon Lindsey is making pizza, berry cobbler, and gooey Carmelita camping bars.
But the festive spirit is soon dampened when a body is found in Ellie’s camper. It seems like an accidental death until everyone’s tires are slashed and it’s clear the glampsite has become a crime scene. With no cell service to call for help, it’s up to Lindsey to smoke out the killer around the campfire . . .
Because no one is out of the woods yet.
A Spirited Supper at Dundoon Castle
By Darci Hannah
Book #2 in the Food & Spirits Mystery Series
When chef Bridget “Bunny” MacBride got a role on the reality show Food & Spirits, she thought “spirits” meant cocktails. Instead, she’s cooking up dinners meant to tempt the departed to appear. And to her surprise, she’s discovered abilities to connect with the beyond—and crack murder cases . . .
Now that Bunny’s entrées come with a side of the Other Side, it comes in handy to have a grandma who’s friendly with the elderly owners of a haunted Scottish castle. During Bunny’s childhood she heard all about Dundoon’s bloody history and the “ghostly piper” who roamed the grounds—and soon she’ll be visiting the ancient place with her ghost hunter and psychic co-stars. The annual bagpipe competition in the late piper’s honor will make for some good footage as well.
After Bunny serves a feast fit for a 17th century king, including lamb chops with plenty of fresh herbs, she heads outdoors for the ghost hunt. But in the dark, dense fog, someone fatally plunges from the clifftop over the loch. The sound that follows is a mournful, otherworldly bagpipe . . . and once the body of another perished piper is retrieved, Bunny is determined to solve this Highlands homicide—and prevent a killer from getting off scot-free . . .
COMING FEBRUARY 23, 2027
A TOAST TO AGATHA CHRISTIE’S GHOST
By Darci Hannah
Book #3 in the Food & Spirits Mystery Series
Chef Bunny MacBride has gotten roped into a ghost-hunting reality show called Food & Spirits, creating dishes to whet the appetites of apparitions. Along the way, she’s discovered she has some supernatural gifts of her own—and an eerie knack for solving murders…
The cast and crew are on Burgh Island, at a restored Art Deco hotel that boasts Agatha Christie as its most famous guest—and now its most famous ghost. They’re filming at a murder-mystery weekend, and Bunny expects it to be more kooky than spooky. But she’s excited to meet the renowned resident chef and delighted to run into her Granny Mac playing the role of Miss Marple. As a bonus, her romance with costar Brett continues to simmer.
The downside is dealing with arrogant guests like Buckley Thorne, who sends back her beetroot salad and demands whipped cream for her peach Melba. Then the show’s phony psychic, Giff, insists on playing Poirot, complete with an absurdly bad accent. When it turns out the victim role is assigned to Buckley Thorne, she feels a touch of satisfaction—until she realizes he’s doing too good a job of playing dead . . .
Shocked to learn Buckley’s true identity, Bunny has to change course once again from cook to crime-solver. She’d sensed an undercurrent of drama at the dead man’s table—and with help from the spirit of the world’s greatest mystery writer, she’s looking closely at the victim’s handsome son, much-younger wife, and elegant circle of friends to conjure up a solution . . .
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