Friday, April 27, 2012

Red Pepper Potato Salad

There are probably as many potato salad recipes as there are people on the planet. I mean, I've got my basic mayonnaise recipe, and I've got a German potato salad recipe, and I've got multiple variations of both of those.

And there's the "oh, gosh, I'm missing some ingredients, but I can cobble something together" recipe.

When I made the first mayonnaise potato salad for my husband (then boyfriend) many years ago, he loved it. After that, it was hit and miss. He always liked it, but sometimes he really really really loved it.

If we were at a potluck or barbecue he'd critique the potato salad. But he had no idea why he liked one more than another. It was up to me to figure it out.

Many many bowls of potato salad were made and consumed, but I still couldn't figure out what it was that he liked so much. Was it the potatoes? No. Mustard? No. Relish? No. Onions? No.

I put things into the potato salad and I took them out.

And then finally I figured it out. It wasn't an ingredient that was included or not - it was how much of an ingredient was in the potato salad. Need a hint? This Friday has a theme.

No, not chicken in the potato salad. It's eggs.

I always put eggs in potato salad. But it doesn't get the husband-seal-of-aproval unless there are a LOT of eggs. I could probably make egg salad and add a potato to it, and he'd be a happy guy. On the other hand, I like potatoes in my potato salad, and I'm the one with the pointy knives and the mixing bowls, so I set some limits on egg content.

This potato salad has the required egg bounty, but it also includes a few interesting ingredients. Because of the red pepper and the paprika, it's a peachy color instead of the more common yellowish-creamy-white.

Red Pepper Potato Salad

6 yukon gold potatoes, cooked
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
6 hard boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
2 stalks celery, diced
1 slice from a large sweet onion, diced
1/4 cup capers
1/4 cup bread and butter pickles, diced
1 roasted red pepper, cleaned and diced
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon celery salt
1 teaspoon prepared horseradish
1/2 cup mayonnaise (more as needed)

Peel the potatoes as soon as they've cooled down enough to handle. Cut them into chunks (whatever size you like) and put them into a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle the cider vinegar over the potatoes immediately and toss them around. The potatoes will absorb the vinegar completely.

Let the potatoes cool while you prepare everything else.

Add all the remaining ingredients to the bowl, and stir to combine. Taste for seasoning and add more salt, if needed. If you prefer a creamier potato salad, add more mayonnaise. You can also add some of the juice from the bread and butter pickles, if you like.

Refrigerate until serving time. Personally, i think potato salad is best the next day, but you can serve it right away.

For more information about Whole Foods Friday, take a look at the tab at the top.
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