Here’s how to make the perfect potato salad
Every so often, we feel inspired to clear cupboards and mailboxes here at Home Plates.
Today’s column shares a pair of recipes readers sent in response to columns earlier this summer. Plates regular Lisa Scott-Ponce offered some helpful advice about picnicking. “Instead of lugging along a large bowl of salad, I put individual servings into smaller containers and pack plastic forks,” Scott-Ponce said. Boy, that’s going to free up some cooler room on my next picnic.
Scott-Ponce also shared her favorite Greek pasta salad recipe. I think I’ll add a handful of cherry tomatoes to her recipe because, well, we’re adding tomatoes to almost everything as we harvest a bumper crop. Her pasta
Greek ‘n Twirls Salad
Makes 6to 8servings
INGREDIENTS
12-ounce package multi-colored pasta twirls
1 cup crumbled feta
½ cup sliced black olives
¾ cup thinly sliced radishes
¼ cup sliced green onions
1 small cucumber, thinly sliced ½ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley 1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS
Cook pasta according to package directions and drain well.
In a large bowl, toss hot pasta with feta, olives, radishes, onions and cucumber until well-blended.
In a small bowl, combine olive oil, lemon juice, parsley, garlic and oregano. Toss pasta with dressing until evenly coated. Salt and pepper to taste. Chill one to two hours before serving. — Contributed by Lisa Scott-Ponce
All-American Potato Salad
Makes 4to 6servings
INGREDIENTS
2pounds (3to 4medium) russet potatoes, peeled and cut into ¾-inch cubes
1 tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided use
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar 1medium celery rib, chopped fine, about ½ cup
2 tablespoons minced red onion 3 tablespoons sweet pickle relish ½ cup mayonnaise
¾ teaspoon dry mustard ¾ teaspoon celery seed 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper 2 large hard-cooked eggs, peeled and cut into ¼-inch cubes, optional
DIRECTIONS
Place potatoes in large saucepan and add water to cover by one inch. Bring to boil over medium-high heat.
Add one tablespoon salt and reduce heat to medium. Simmer, stirring once or twice, until potatoes are tender, about five to eight minutes.
Drain potatoes and transfer to large bowl. Add vinegar. Using rubber spatula, toss gently to combine. Let stand until potatoes are just warm, about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, in small bowl, stir together celery, onion, pickle relish, mayonnaise, dry mustard, celery seed, parsley, ½ teaspoon salt and pepper. Using rubber spatula, gently fold dressing and eggs, if using, into potatoes.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, about one hour. — Recipe from Cook’s Illustrated
salad included black olive slices, feta, radishes and cucumber, among other goodies, in an olive oil and lemon juice dressing.
The Nut Tree potato salad recipe prompted Laura Marks of Moraga to share what she swears is the absolute best potato salad recipe. The secret to the recipe, which Marks acquired from an old Cook’s Illustrated, is gently tossing the hot potatoes with white vinegar, then letting them stand for 20 minutes to absorb that flavor.
The recipe advises using a rubber spatula to mix ingredients, which probably helps keep the potatoes from falling apart.
The Johnny Marzetti casserole column reminded Ernest Avellar of Hayward of a similar casserole called tallerini that his mother prepared in the 1950s in Oakland. “Like a missionary,” Avellar’s sister in turn took the recipe with her to Concord. Avellar remembers his mother used a “secret chili powder” in the dish.
“Only certain stores carried it, and one time she had to contact my aunt living in Redding because she could find it there,” Avellar says. I’m wondering if Avellar’s mother used Grandma’s Chili Powder, dearly missed by many of us.
Annie wants to make a caramel cake with lots of rich caramel icing.
A dear friend presented me with a plastic baggie full of treasure the other day. She’d brought me ground turmeric prepared by her mother on the family farm in India. The turmeric is pungent and rich, and I want to use it in the most wonderful ways possible. Please share your favorite recipes.