For a fresh take on Mom’s potato salad, add herbs

• This is a best of Lean and Lovin' It column, first published May 23, 2018. Don Mauer is taking some time off.

Summer's just a few short weeks away and Memorial Day weekend is just around the corner, which got me to thinking about my absolute favorite summer salad.

What is it? Potato salad, of course, like my mom used to make.

Mom's potato salad was a straightforward recipe: cooked red-skin potatoes, diced celery and onion, mayonnaise, yellow mustard, salt, and pepper. Easy.

Over the years, I've learned a lot about making potato salad, and even though I might be following the ingredient list for my mom's salad, my version is not the same.

To change things up, I ran a quick internet search, and in less than one second I found 1.7 million paths to potato salad.

Some recipes were like my mom's (one nearly matched, from a mayonnaise bottle's label). Others included cheese, bacon, green olives, tahini, fennel, tomatoes and smoked trout.

One intriguing recipe I came across was “Easy Potato Salad,” adapted from the 2013 cookbook “New York Street Food,” on David Leite's website, leitesculinaria.com.

The author's recipe was similar to my mom's but added fresh herbs (basil, marjoram and thyme) to the salad. The method wasn't tricky; that's a plus. And, I had all the fresh herbs growing in my garden.

Leite's website uses recipe testers who make and comment on their results. Reading comments such as “The best I've ever had,” “A++,” and “Perfect potato salad taste and texture” sent me to my kitchen to hard-boil some eggs and see if I had enough of the right potatoes (red skin). I did.

The recipe includes little explanation for the potato salad issues I've learned about over the years. Let's begin with the potatoes. I always go organic with potatoes; it doesn't matter what type or what I'm making.

According to the USDA's Pesticide Data Program, there have been 37 pesticides found on conventionally grown potatoes. Because potatoes grow under the soil, conventionally grown potatoes may require the use of fungicides.

The best path to cooking skin-on, whole potatoes is to put them in a pan filled with cold water and bring that water to a boil. Since potatoes cook from the outside in, dropping them in boiling water overcooks a potato's outside before the middle is cooked.

A mainstream brand of mayonnaise used to be my go-to mayo until I stopped having anything to do with soybeans. (It's made with soybean oil, as are most mayos.) Even though it's pricey, today my go-to, no-added-sugar mayo is made with good-for-me, non-GMO avocado oil.

Leaving the potato skins on is my preference, for looks, nutritional value and preparation ease.

Finally, I've never been a fan of hard-boiled eggs in a potato salad, as Mom never used them. My partner, Nan, doesn't think it's “real” potato salad without adding hard-boiled eggs. Hard-boiling half-dozen eggs, even though I needed just two, left me with four. I see egg salad stuffed tomatoes in my future.

If you're looking for a different but most-excellent take on potato salad, give this one a try this coming holiday weekend.

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

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Sure Ain't Mom's Potato Salad

1 cup mayonnaise (I used avocado oil mayonnaise, see note*)

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil leaves

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh marjoram leaves

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

½ teaspoon each sea salt and fresh-ground black pepper

2 pounds organic red-skin potatoes boiled, cooled and well-chilled (peeled if desired) and chopped (about 4 cups)

½ cup finely chopped red onion

½ cup finely chopped celery

2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped (optional)

Add the mayonnaise, chopped basil leaves, chopped marjoram leaves, thyme leaves, salt and pepper to a small bowl and stir together until combined. Cover and refrigerate for 2 or more hours.

In a large bowl, combine the potatoes, onion, celery and eggs. Add mayonnaise mixture and gently toss to coat and combine. Serve immediately. Or cover and refrigerate until well chilled.

Serves 8

Nutrition values per serving: 310 calories (73.8% from fat), 25.4 g fat (3.4 g saturated fat), 19.2 g carbohydrates, 1.8 g sugars, 2.2 g fiber, 3.9 g protein, 83 mg cholesterol, 569 mg sodium.

* Note: 94% of the fat and 70% of the total calories come from the mayonnaise. I no longer use reduced-fat or fat-free mayonnaise dressings since they contain high fructose corn syrup and soybean oil. Consider the possibility of using real mayonnaise and cutting the amount used in half or smaller serving sizes. Also, assembling the salad with well-chilled potatoes keeps the salad dressing thick and not runny.

— Adapted from “New York Street Food” by Jacqueline Goossens and Tom Vandenberghe (Lannoo Publishers, 2013).