An essential summer cookout staple: the perfect potato salad

Many weeks of overheated summer remain, and everyone who can will continue their cookouts until it is too cold. For many, though, cooking outdoors never stops, even when it snows.

Three items in my world are essential for Summer-food: home-grown tomatoes, corn on the cob, and potato salad.

My garden has loads of herbs, like basil, oregano, rosemary, and thyme, but no vegetables. That means heading to my local farmers market, where I found some amazing ripe tomatoes that are sweet and ready to eat. Many of those tomatoes aren't red but yellow, like small, super-sweet, SunGold cherry tomatoes. If you can find them, buy them, you will not be disappointed.

Or what is now a personal favorite, Big Rainbow, an heirloom tomato with a mildly sweet flavor that looks terrific sliced on a platter with its gold and red stripes streaming from top to bottom.

There are two things I do not like about fresh corn on the cob: what to do with those tricky-to-get-off-the-ear silks and having to work a toothpick around my teeth after scarfing down an ear (or two). Otherwise, a perfectly cooked ear of corn is pure heaven that screams: “S-U-M-M-E-R.” Recently, I found that a few minutes in a microwave produces excellent corn-on-the-cob without boiling water.

And, finally, potato salad. A summer meal is only complete with potato salad. For years (and even in one of my books), I shared what I always assumed was an exact duplicate of my Mom's potato salad. Hers was a simple combination of potatoes, celery, and onion dressed with mayonnaise seasoned with yellow mustard, sugar, vinegar, salt, and fresh-ground pepper.

I recently mentioned Mom's potato salad to my brother, Robert, and he asked: “No hard-boiled eggs?”

I said: “No, Mom didn't include them.”

He said: “She sure did.”

Since I just bought some fresh, organically grown red potatoes from my farmers market, I headed to the kitchen to make some potato salad that, this time, would include hard-boiled eggs.

As long as I was working on this, I added two things that Mom did not include: chopped, fresh organic parsley and organic sour cream. I also changed distilled white vinegar to lower-acid unseasoned rice vinegar.

Once made, my new potato salad looked sensational, somehow better than before I added the dressing.

My flavor changes were subtle, and I relied on my taste memory to make a comparison. It worked; incredibly well.

Having a local farmers market is terrific, but this potato salad can be nearly as good with supermarket-sourced ingredients.

There may be no leftovers if you make and serve this to a crowd.

Don Mauer welcomes questions, comments and recipe makeover requests. Write to him at 1leanwizard@gmail.com.

Summer-Ready Potato Salad

3 pounds medium-sized, red-skin potatoes

½ medium red onion, diced fine

4 medium celery ribs, diced fine

2 large, hard-boiled eggs, peeled and chopped fine

¾ cup mayonnaise*

¼ sour cream (organic preferred)

¼ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

2 teaspoons granulated sugar**

1 teaspoon yellow mustard (or to taste)

2 teaspoons kosher salt (or to taste)

½ teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper

Using a vegetable brush, clean the unpeeled potatoes under cold water. Two-thirds fill a large pot with cold water, add the potatoes, bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes or until fork tines or a paring knife easily pierces each potato. Drain, cool, and refrigerate.

Leaving the skins on, cut chilled potatoes into 3/8-inch dice. Set aside.

Add the mayonnaise, sour cream, parsley, rice vinegar, sugar, mustard, salt, and pepper to a large mixing bowl and whisk together until combined. Add the potatoes, onion, and celery. Using a large spoon or rubber spatula, stir and fold the vegetables and eggs together until coated with dressing. Cover, refrigerate for one hour, and serve.

Serves 12

Nutrition values per serving: 207 calories (56 percent from fat), 12.9 g fat (2.5 g saturated fat), 20.3 g carbohydrates (17.8 net carbs), 2.5 g sugars, 2.3 g fiber, 3.6 g protein, 43 mg cholesterol, 437 mg sodium.

*Per serving: Light mayonnaise reduces calories to 156, and fat to 7.9 milligrams.

**A natural sugar substitute, such as organic stevia may be used for the sugar.

Don Mauer