Saturday Night Potato Salad

Hope you all enjoyed the photos from the Slow Food wine and chocolate tasting. It was so fun! I’ll be sure to let you know about the next one, as I keep discovering more St. Louis bloggers!

As if things weren’t busy enough with my new job, we decided to have a party on Saturday. We planned it weeks in advance so that the most people could come - we had about 20 people here at one point!

We asked people to bring whatever they wanted to drink and we provided food. Our plan was to grill – unfortunately, it was cold, cloudy, and under 50 degrees all day! Didn’t stop us Matt though, and as he grilled brats, burgers, and chicken kebobs for everyone, I think we even saw a glimpse of the sun :)

I knew I wanted to make something, but just could not decide. Seriously, I don’t know what my problem was. I finally chose a classic, potato salad.

Traditionally, I’m not a huge potato salad fan but I liked this one because it was light on the mayo, I didn’t have to skin the potatoes, and it called for a lot of onion :)

(Where does traditional red potato salad come from? Anywhere in particular? It kept coming up as “American Potato Salad”)

  
I used a recipe from Country Living and my ingredients for about 10 people included:

3 lbs small red potatoes, quartered

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup EVOO

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1 tsp dried tarragon

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup finely chopped sweet onion

1/2 cup chopped green onions

2 tbsp sweet pickle relish

4 large hard-boiled eggs, peeled and grated

1/2 cup mayo

(Suggested toppings include bacon and roasted red pepper!)

So the star of the show was tarragon. Not my favorite spice but I added it and really didn’t mind it. Next time though,  I’ll add some dill to balance it out!

In a large pot, combine potatoes, 1 teaspoon salt, and enough water to cover, and boil over high heat. Cook potatoes until fork-tender, about 10 - 15 minutes. Drain potatoes and place in a large bowl (seriously, a large bowl!).

In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, tarragon, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Add olive oil mixture to potatoes. Stir in celery, sweet and green onions, and pickle relish. Fold in grated eggs and mayonnaise.

Sidenote: I have never grated an egg before, but it was awesome and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Added a thickness to the salad without chunks of eggs/whites!

Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
 

This was probably the best potato salad I’ve ever had. I really liked that there was only 1/2 cup mayo for that HUGE bowl! Like I said, next time – dill. Yum!

We also drank some fun beers this weekend. A local gas station does a “pick 6”  - for $9, you pick any 6 random beers you want. It’s a common enough practice but this is just a random BP in the middle of town that has a pretty good selection, so it’s convenient! Here are a few I tried:

Buffalo Bill’s Orange Blossom Cream Ale – fantastic! Funny thing, someone later brought a 6-pack of this beer to the party! I had never heard of it before Saturday night.

Pyramid Brewing Apricot Ale – way too much apricot. I like fruit beers but only if the flavor is a hint of the fruit. This was way too much!

Dundee Brewing Kolsch-Style Ale – I am big into Kolsch beers and liked this one! It wasn’t the best ever, but it wasn’t bad either.

Lagunitas Wilco Tango Foxtrot “Jobless Recovery Ale” – Very good. Technically Matt’s but I had a glass. Darker but doesn’t taste dark. You really can’t go wrong with a Lagunitas.

Tonight, we finished a couple of our last Dogfish Head IPA’s. This is sad news. Dogfish Head isn’t distributed in St. Louis and is actually pulling out of other markets, so it will be even more difficult to find. These are from Nashville!

Good news though – Stone Brewing Co. will be distributed in St. Louis starting today!
 

Leftover chicken with gorgonzola and onion on top, leftover potato salad, leftover paella (which I’ll be blogging about soon!).

 
I have a lot of good recipe posts coming up, including:

• Paella, as part of the World Kitchen event on Sunday
• Fudgy meringue cookies (might be my best ever)
• Creamy chicken with braised leeks (omg, the cream!)
• Cheesy lasagna roll-ups (perfect for kids!)
• Cajun chicken pasta (now in regular rotation here!)

Stay tuned, and thanks so much for reading!