Truly, this is a potato salad for all
If you think eating more healthfully means 86-ing potato salad from your summer menu, I have good news — and after that, I have even better news.
First, the good news: Potatoes are better for you than you might realize. A medium spud brings more potassium to the table than a medium banana and more vitamin C than a medium tomato, plus a respectable amount of fiber, vitamin B6 and iron. It’s true that potatoes tend to have a high glycemic index, meaning they cause a spike in blood sugar. But that is tempered when eaten in the context of a meal that contains protein and fat; interestingly, once potatoes have cooled after cooking (as they are for a salad), their glycemic index drops to a moderate level — more along the lines of that of a whole grain — because some of the starch in the potato changes to a type called “resistant starch.”
Now for the even better news: The accompanying recipe ups the ante on both the health and flavor fronts, for a potato salad that could hold its own on any superfood list. In it, new red potatoes, which are cooked and cooled skin-on for rustic texture, color and nutrition, are tossed with crisp, sweet bell peppers and dressed with an emerald-green, lemony kale pesto. It coats the potatoes luxuriously in a much more healthful, but still crowdpleasing, way than with a mayonnaise-based dressing.
While a hint of kale flavor comes through, it is not polarizing — as the leafy green can sometimes be — because its taste is balanced by the sweet, floral notes of the basil leaves and brightened with lemon juice. The result is a fresh new approach to potato salad that gives you every reason to say yes.