If your idea of potato salad is limited to the typical mayonnaise based recipes, it’s time to think again and experiment with farm fresh potatoes, new mix-ins, and alternate dressings.
This potato and egg salad with a vinaigrette is made creamy by the mixing of the eggs and dressing. A few scallions add flavor and color.
The great American writer Laurie Colwin
She had a favorite for this time of year. “If you can find them, the tiny potatoes of early autumn are delicious. They are the size of quail eggs and are wonderful steamed and eaten with a French olive oil, salt, pepper and a drop of lemon juice.”
Colwin also gave good advice on selecting potatoes for salads. She found that waxy potatoes like our popular red skinned varieties don’t absorb as much dressing and are best when you want a salad, “delicately coated.” And that mealier potatoes, like a russet, soak up dressing for a creamier result.
You'll find the recipe for this Summer Corn and Potato Salad in one of our posts from 2008. I still make it and we still love it.
Vinaigrette Potato Salads
Thinking vinaigrette rather than mayonnaise is very traditional. In Fannie Merritt Farmer's
One version is great for apple season – Potato and Celery Salad. She wrote, “To two cups boiled potatoes cut in one-half inch cubes add one-half cup finely cut celery and a medium-sized apple, pared, cut in eighths, then eighths cut in thin slices. Marinate with French Dressing. Arrange in a mound and garnish with celery tip and sections of bright red apple.” Her version of “French Dressing” was what we call vinaigrette: a mix of olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.
Family Recipe
The potato and egg salad you see at the top was my father-in-law's recipe. Ed and I enjoy this as a quick meal some evenings. I use two pounds of red potatoes as the base. Rather than peel the potatoes, I scrub them, remove any eyes or bad spots, slice into wedges, and cook them in a steamer
Other additions to a salad like this might be capers, grated carrots, parsley, dill, or a bit of dry mustard. As with so many salads, I use what I have on hand when I begin to make it and change it up often enough to keep it fresh among the routine meals.
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Details:
Words: Penny Cherubino (Adapted for the web from one of her Fresh & Local newspaper columns)
Photos: ©2008- 2015 Penny Cherubino
added just the right bit of seasoning. 
until just tender and tossed them with a bit of butter. While the vegetable was steaming, she chopped up a couple of hard boiled eggs that we had ready to go in the refrigerator and a few of the 
. This one is great because you can slice your egg across then turn it around and slice the slices into the nice dice you see in the photo. 
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shaped like a loaf pan. Then, we can cut slices to warm in the mircowave or grill in a buttered skillet. 
. (It is fun to see things you use all the time listed on ebay as vintage goods.)