Here in New England, most of April and May felt like March; perpetually cold and rainy with an occasional snow squall and an even less occasional day of sunshine. But finally, heading into Memorial Day weekend, the weather shifted and the sun came out with a vengeance and suddenly it felt like summer. The timing couldn’t be better as far as the Daring Cooks challenge because Jami Sorrento was our June Daring Cooks hostess and she chose to challenge us to celebrate the humble spud by making a delicious and healthy potato salad. The Daring Cooks Potato Salad Challenge was sponsored by the nice people at the United States Potato Board, who awarded prizes to the top 3 most creative and healthy potato salads. A medium-size (5.3 ounce) potato has 110 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no sodium and includes nearly half your daily value of vitamin C and has more potassium than a banana!
Potato salad is the perfect summer food, particularly good to take to a potluck or have as part of an outdoor barbeque. Fortunately, I had both on the calendar so I made two different potato salads (recipes at the end of this post) but I’m not sure I’ll be considered for the competition because my recipes aren’t particularly healthy or low fat. Sadly, I’m a firm believer that the creamier and fuller of fat something is, the better it will taste! Thus, I suppose, my constant battle with the bulge.
For a Memorial Weekend potluck, I made a creamy curried potato salad and it was a fantastic addition to a truly delicious and gorgeous meal where each dish was prepared with love and care and shared with some of my favorite people on the planet.
It was a gorgeous potluck with yummy food and yummy people!
The following weekend I decided to do a bacon and egg potato salad as one of the sides to go along with a whole barbequed rack of baby back ribs. What a perfect accompaniment to compliment the smoky, long cooked flavor of all that porky goodness! Asian slaw, grilled Tuscan bread and coconut chocolate mousse cake rounded out this special birthday meal for our good friend Bob.
Check out these ribs:
They smelled amazing cooking on the grill!
Nice rack!!!
Dessert was great too!
With summer off to a roaring good start, I’ve officially fallen off the diet band wagon and not sure I’ll be ready to climb back on any time soon. Given the choice between all the succulent tastes of summer or looking lean in my bathing suit, it’s shaping up (or not shaping up!) to be not much of a choice. A good rich potato salad is just too good to resist and next it’s strawberry shortcake time, soon followed by native corn on the cob (of course slathered with butter) and then corn and native tomato pie and then…
Maybe I’ll skip the beach this year.
CURRIED POTATO SALAD
5 lbs red new potatoes
1 C diced celery
½ C diced red bell pepper (drain on paper towels to absorb extra moisture)
1 C chopped dried cranberries
1 ½ C mayo (I like Miracle Whip but that’s a debate for another day. Use what you like. You can use lite mayo or Miracle whip as well)
¾ C non-fat plain yogurt
½ C regular or lite (not fat free) sour cream
Juice of 1 lemon
1 C cilantro
4 scallions
2 TBSP curry powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp salt
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
Cut potatoes (with skin on) into small bite sized chunks and boil in salted water until just tender, 5-8 minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water to stop cooking. When cool and well drained, place in a large bowl with the celery, red pepper and cranberries. Puree remaining ingredients in a food processor or blender, scraping down sides, until a smooth dressing forms. Pour over the potatoes and gently stir until all the potatoes are well coated. Let rest in the refrigerator for an hour or so to let the flavors meld.
BACON AND EGG POTATO SALAD
3 lbs red new potatoes
1 C diced celery
½ C diced red bell pepper (drain on paper towels to absorb extra moisture)
½ C chopped flat leaf parsley
4 slices well cooked bacon, drained and crumbled
4 chopped hard cooked eggs
1-1 ½ C lite or regular mayo (I use Miracle whip)
Scant ¼ C bacon drippings
1 tsp salt (or to taste)
fresh ground pepper, to taste
Cut potatoes (with skin on) into small bite sized chunks and boil in salted water until just tender, 5-8 minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water to stop cooking. When cool and well drained, place in a large bowl with the celery, red pepper, parsley, and most of the bacon and eggs (save some for garnish.) Gently stir in mayo and bacon drippings. Garnish with extra bacon and eggs.
YUM!