And Old Standard Taken to Another Level

I was recently invited to a barbecue, and thought to myself: self, it’s been way too long since you made a nice dish to share with your friends. You have a gift for making things taste fantastic, so why not take the venerable old potato salad and make it your own? So I did. And here’s how it went:

Potato salad is ubiquitous, so to make it stand out I started making my modifications at the base level: the potatoes. Good old Trader Joe’s offers a potato medley that was just the ticket for a unique take on potato salad. It’s a bag of multi-colored potatoes, including the really cool purple ones, plus the golden and the tasty red skinned variety.

It’s the Little Things

My ingredient list beyond that was more or less standard, but I made sure to include twists and small enhancements in the preparation of most of them, to make sure I wasn’t just making plain-old ‘tater salad.

For example, when boiling the water for the potatoes I salted it liberally so that the potatoes themselves would be seasoned, and I also added 2 large sprigs of fresh rosemary to the water for a hint of herbiness.

I pan-roasted the onion and red and green bell peppers with olive oil, salt, and a gourmet variety of cracked black pepper, before dicing them.

In addition to the usual mayo, brown mustard, pickles, and celery, I added a liberal dose of horseradish paste, and a touch of seasoned rice wine vinegar.

The result: delicious, unique, well-executed, yet standard enough not to be outlandish or overwhelming. It would do exactly what it was hired to do, which is accompany grilled chicken and beer. Exactly what a potato salad should do. No more, no less.

The recipe

• 2# multi-colored potatoes (any old ‘tater will do just fine, as long as it’s in good shape)
• 1/4 – 1/2 large red onion, sliced into 1/4″ rounds
• 1/2 red bell pepper, in large strips
• 1/2 green bell pepper, in large strips
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 3 small dill pickles, diced (get the good kind, without food coloring. These are inexplicably hard to find at your average grocery store. Why do pickles need to be colored, anyway? Don’t get me started…)
• 3 Tbsp. mayonnaise
• 1 tsp. spicy brown mustard
• 1 tsp. horseradish paste
• 1/2 tsp. seasoned rice wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup sea salt (for the water)
• fresh ground black pepper
• 2 large sprigs fresh rosemary (optional)

The Method

1. Add salt and rosemary to about 8 quarts of water in a large pot and heat on high until boiling
2. While the water is heating up, dice the potatoes into 1/2″ cubes
3. Add potatoes to boiling water, and cook until tender but not mushy
4. Drain completely, spread out on a sheet pan and immediately put in the refrigerator to cool down. Rinsing can help cool the potatoes down, but I recommend against it because it will wash away the salt, rosemary, and potatoey goodness.
5. While the potatoes are cooling, move on to preparation of the onions and peppers:
   • heat a skillet on medium-high heat and coat the bottom with olive oil.
   • once the pan is hot, place the peppers, skin side down, in the pan and allow to brown slightly. Turn them over, brown the insides slightly, then remove them an place them on a plate or sheet pan to cool. They should not be totally cooked, but tender-crisp.
   • do the same for the onions, cooking them only slightly, with salt and pepper. Add a little more oil to the pan, if necessary.
   • spread everything out in a single layer on a plate or sheet pan and place in the fridge to cool down
6. Finely dice the celery and pickles
7. Once cool, finely dice the onions and peppers.
8. Place potatoes (wait for them to completely cool), onions, peppers, celery and pickles in a large mixing bowl and gently stir in the mayo, mustard, horseradish, rice wine vinegar, and fresh ground pepper.
9. Once everything is thoroughly mixed, have a taste and add a pinch of whatever it may need.
10. Transfer to a nice clean serving dish.
11. Allow to sit, refrigerated for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.
12. Smile modestly when each and every person at the party comes up to you and raves about your potato salad.

Notes:

• Potato salad will taste best if left to rest (covered & refrigerated) overnight, or at least a few hours.
• Feel free to experiment with amounts and ingredients. Other herbs, bacon, boiled eggs, specialty mustards, be creative!
• My Measurements are approximate, as I very rarely ever measure anything, except when baking.
• I may add some photos here if I makes this dish again…I was holding this post until I got some photos, but, you know, I need to post something…