2Create in Color »

Masthead header

Partly Potato Salad

Wow that’s a big picture! LOL!   Gail here, just so you don’t get confused as I mention MY mom, Sam’s grandma…

I make a pretty mean potato salad. I copy what my mom did when I was a kid. I think it is a fun thing when somewhere along the way in your family’s history, someone’s recipe discovery becomes a piece of family heritage. That’s how it is with mom’s potato salad. It’s good. It rocks! Most people seem to like it. A lot of second helpings are dished up.

I remember picking out the big chunks of egg white to eat first. The potatoes were always the last (sometimes I didn’t even eat them!)  So I chop my boiled eggs in large pieces. Dill pickles. Some mustard. I use green onions; that’s about the only change – mom usually used yellow.

Today I decided to change things up. I wanted to lower the carb load. Without doing the cliché swap-cauliflower-for-potatoes, I needed to substitute some reasonable things to make a faux potato salad. I already know that tiny florets of cauliflower actually make an amazing not-potato salad. Try it!

My husband and I hit the produce stand today and picked up all kinds of goodies. I’m very into vegetables and going to a produce stand is almost as exciting as going to a fabric store!

As we wandered, I pondered just what my plan of attack was going to be. Crunch. Color. A blending of flavors. Increased nutrition – potatoes are easy to trump in the nutrition department in spite of smart marketing strategies.

Bell peppers. Celery. A white yam (sweet potato, whatever term, the kind with tan skin, creamy innards, high fiber, and a bit of sweet.) Joke around a bit with our produce buddies George and Nick as we check out. Detour to the fabric store (really… it was a great day if you’re Gail!)

Back home, 4 fist-sized red potatoes and the yam went on the stove to boil. Next to them 3 eggs started boiling in another pan. Some sad looking green onions got a makeover before their photo shoot ;) Celery and peppers took a bath. Chop Chop Chop: 2 stalks of celery, 1/3-ish of each pepper, green onions, 2 big ol’ Kosher dills. Set aside to keep cool and crisp until later.

Peeling and chopping eggs – don’t use the egg slicer! Dicing potatoes. Keeping the skins on the red ones – as much as would stay attached, anyway!

MAGIC INGREDIENT! Toss the very-warm diced potatoes with Italian dressing. We like Bernsteins. It is very similar to the basic Paul Newman Italian dressing: peppery, parmesan and vinegar, not sweetened. Let the potatoes soak this up while they cool. This step is key! MMmmm!

Mom and I both snitched a couple pieces out of the bowl. Why don’t we just serve potatoes like this ever? I wondered this aloud, and she told me of slapping my dad’s hands to keep him out of the potatoes+dressing so there’d be enough for the potato salad! LOL, yup, that was my dad alright!

Forgive me the poor choice of a periwinkle bowl to mix in!

Here you see it, ready to turn from ingredients to salad. I ended up with almost equal parts chopped veggies as potatoes/yam.  Don’t be grossed out by the mayonnaise sitting there in the middle trying to hog the spotlight! It’s light mayo, and there’s not as much as you might think. Stir lightly so the diced potatoes don’t turn to mashed potatoes. Carbs cut by maybe 40%? Works for us!

Our Labor Day grilled dinner consisted of cedar planked salmon, ears of corn cooked in husks on the grill, cantaloupe, watermelon salad…

And this Partly Potato Salad. Seconds were dished up :)

Gail

PS I love hovertext. Do you read my hovertext? All kinds of extra tidbits! Don’t miss it!

Your email is never published or shared. Required fields are marked *

*

*

facebookpinteresttwittersubscribecontact