Always season for potato salad
Does potato salad have a season? I don't think so. But in a recent conversation with several self-proclaimed “foodies,” I found out some folks think it is strictly a spring/summer side dish. Potato salad ingredients are simple, inexpensive and readily available year-round, so why not serve it in the fall and winter?
I vividly remember that the Christmas hams at my grandmother's house were served with potato salad with mayonnaise dressing and lots of pickles. And Sunday dinners seemed to have always included potato salad on the sideboard. Maybe it's a Southern thing?
Today's recipe is my new favorite way to enjoy potato salad any time of the year. It's not a mayonnaise-based salad, but instead uses olive oil and lemon juice as dressing.
The most important ingredient in any potato salad recipe is salt. The salt brightens and enhances each individual ingredient and brings them all together. I add salt when I toss the freshly cooked potatoes with the dressing (no matter what type) and then salt to taste after the salad has cooled. As far as I'm concerned, a potato salad without enough salt is as sad as a sunburn on the first day of vacation: It just ruins it.
Do you think potato salad has a season? Log onto kitchenscoop.com and join the conversation.
• Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross are co-authors of “Desperation Dinners!” Write them at Desperation Dinners, c/o Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106, or tellus@kitchenscoop.com. More at the Desperation Dinners Web site, kitchenscoop.com.