You Say Potato Salad – I Say Potahto Salad

June 14, 2011 at 9:40 am | Posted in Daring Cooks, Dinner, Fruit, Lunch, Salads, Vegetables | 55 Comments
Tags: Cashews, Chiles, Daring Cooks, Fish Sauce, garlic, Ginger, Greek Yogurt, Healthy, Lime, Lobster, Lobster Potato Salad, Mango, Peanuts, Peppers, Potato Salad, Potatoes, Shallots

I’m willing to guess that a good portion of Americans have grown up with potato salad.  I’m also willing to guess that the potato salad most of us have grown up with is mayonnaise based – thick, gloppy, slightly sweet, supermarket containers of potato salad, or your Aunt Rose’s or neighbor’s homemade thick, gloppy, slightly sweet, mayonnaise based potato salad, with lots of egg – one that would inevitably sit out in the sun for hours, (though no one ever contracted or died of staphylococcus or salmonella), at every Sunday or summer BBQ.

Once in a while, someone would shock the suburban BBQ system, and show up with a German potato salad, vinegar based..no mayonnaise. We’d all slowly circle this alien bowl of potatoes without the creamy glop we were so used to.  You could actually see the potatoes, and they were actually the color of peeled potatoes, not mysterious lumps blanketed beneath a white dressing with bits of eggs, celery, and onions.

“Are you gonna try it?”

“No, you try it first and tell me if it’s good”

Inevitably, someone would try it, usually me, and although it wasn’t bad..my palate was trained on creamy, thick mayonnaise dressing, so after the initial scrunch face from the acidity of the the vinegar…

“Ummm…I don’t know..not really potato salad to me, too vinegary“

Before I go on, this month’s Daring Cooks challenge is pretty cool.  it’s partly a contest, with prizes and a chance to get your recipe out there via the US potato board…

Jami Sorrento was our June Daring Cooks hostess and she chose to challenge us to celebrate the humble spud by making a delicious and healthy potato salad. The Daring Cooks Potato Salad Challenge was sponsored by the nice people at the United States Potato Board, who awarded prizes to the top 3 most creative and healthy potato salads. A medium-size (5.3 ounce) potato has 110 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no sodium and includes nearly half your daily value of vitamin C and has more potassium than a banana!

Thankfully, palates break from the traditional and change as we grow, but I knew I was still in the ‘rut’ at 18, when an ex-BF’s mom promised us a BBQ and some homemade potato salad when we returned from the beach.  As the day went on and my hunger grew (residual, second hand smoke from his daily uhhh..toke ..errr, smoke, catapulted that hunger), visions of creamy potato salad swirled through my head, served with a juicy burger, some of the mayonnaise from the side of potato salad smearing on  the bun, making each bite a blended delight.  I also couldn’t wait to slap some of that creamy potato salad on my burger.  Have you ever tried that?  If not, I recommend you do.

I think you know where this is going.

When Mama of Ex-Dreamboat appeared through the haze of charcoal smoke, like an angel from heaven – carrying a big, red bowl…undoubtedly filled with loads of creamy, eggy potatoes, just waiting to melt on my tongue – my stomach started rumbling, like a teen’s souped-up vintage car.  I ran to her to ‘help’ by taking the bowl from her and placing it on an empty spot on the table, right in front of me..I wanted first dibs.

When the burgers were ready, I pulled off the foil excitedly.  Uh oh – it was like hitting a whammy on Press Your Luck, and this sound blared loud and clear in my head.  It was German potato salad, in all of it’s vinegary glory.

“Did you know my Mom was of German ancestry?”

“No, Dreamboat, I didn’t..wow”

I almost sneezed when the vinegar hit my nasal cavities, but at least my watery eyes disguised the real tears that could have come at that moment, since the disappointment was so fierce.  I smiled and said “Wow, looks great”.  I may as well have admitted I was responsible for the breakdown of the ozone layer, because that’s how disingenuous it sounded.   I begrudgingly took a whole tablespoon of the potato salad, and pretended to enjoy it immensely.

Fast forward to college and after…I now appreciate a good potato salad without mayonnaise – warm or cold.  Don’t get me wrong, I still love a good mayo based potato salad, but I was finally able to take some potato forks in the road and appreciate all kinds of preparations – such as a mayo-free blue cheese- apple potato salad that became my go to in my 20′s..even at Sunday BBQ’s – no matter how horrified some traditionalist looked at me when I showed it off, pleading with them to “ …just taste it!”

Well..I’ve taken that route again, but in a much healthier way.  I came up with a Mango-Ginger (You can substitue apple for the mango, just as good and crunchier) potato salad with only 2 tabelspoons of low fat mayonnaise, and fat-free greek yogurt, minus the blue cheese.  Creamy without all the extra calories and fat, and loaded with flavor and texture.  I would have omitted the mayonnaise completely if not for missing it a bit after a few tastes.  It needed that creamy egg and oil component so it wouldn’t taste completely like yogurt with fruit, shallots, and potatoes.  It was one of those scour the fridge and ‘create’ moments, and I think it worked out quite well, if I may brag a bit. It’s got it all, fruity, savory, soft, creamy, crunchy and a little sweet heat from the ginger.  So far, no horrified looks, just thumbs up.  Try it..I know you want to at least taste it.

For my warm potato salad, an idea struck at the last minute – like last night last minute.  I remembered this amazing spicy, chile, lime, honey lobster noodle salad I had, created by renowned chef and owner of many fabulous restaurants, Jean-Georges Vongerichten.  The dressing on the lobster and noodles was to.die.for – sweet, savory, spicy and tart.  I decided to adapt this dressing to a potato-lobster salad, eliminating a few ingredients, and changing the measurements to combine well with the amount of potatoes and lobster I was using.  WOW, I’m so happy with how this turned out.  I couldn’t stop taking forkfuls even hours after I ate.  Once again, you’ve got to try it.  You can substitute shrimp, crab, scallops or even monkfish, for the lobster.  Oh, did I mention this one was also healthy?  Yep, it is.

Well…that’s it for my two new potato salads.  To see all the unqiue and creative potato salads my fellow Daring Cooks came up with, click on the links to their blogs, HERE.  To see and try a variety of recipes for all kinds of healthy potato salads from all over the world, click HERE.

Mango-Ginger Potato Salad
2 pounds Red Bliss potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1/2 to 3/4 cup Greek, plain fat-free yogurt (depending on how much dressing you prefer and the calories – I used 3/4 cup)
2 tablespoons light mayonnaise
1 mango, OR 1 small to medium, tart apple, peeled and diced
1 large shallot, finely diced
1 red jalapeno chile, seeded and diced (optional)
2-3 teaspoons fresh, grated or finely diced ginger
1/4 cup coarsely chopped mint
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Toasted cashew nuts, chopped

DIRECTIONS:
1. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the potatoes and cook over high heat until tender, about 9 minutes. Drain, gently shaking out the excess water. Spread on a baking sheet,to cool then place in a bowl and drizzle with two tablespoon of cider vinegar, cover with plastic wrap, and chill in the coldest part of refrigerator for 2 hours.

2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk the yogurt with the mayonnaise until smooth. Add the mango, chile, ginger,shallots, and mint. Fold in the potatoes, season with salt and pepper and let chill, covered, for several hours for flavors to marry.

3. Sprinkle with toasted, chopped cashews and serve. Can be refrigerated up to 2 or 3 days.

Warm  & Spicy Chile Lime Potato Lobster Salad
Dressing adapted from Jean-Georges Vongerichten, with my revisions

2 lbs red bliss or yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 lobster tail, cooked, shelled and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 large shallot, diced
kosher salt
1 red bell pepper
1 fresh long red hot chile (I used a thai bird)
2 tablespoons Asian fish sauce
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, plus lime wedges, for serving
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon Asian chile sauce, such as sambal oelek
1 teaspoon Asian sesame oil
1/4 cup chopped unsalted roasted peanuts, toasted
2 tablespoons thinly sliced mint leaves
2 tablespoons thinly sliced cilantro leaves

DIRECTIONS:
1. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the potatoes and cook over high heat until tender, about 9 minutes. Drain, gently shaking out the excess water. Let cool spread on a baking sheet,to cool.  Cut up lobster tail and refrigerate until ready to use.

2. In a small skillet, heat the olive oil. Add the garlic, shallots and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Cook over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until the garlic and shallots are golden, 5 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl.

3. Roast the red pepper and chile directly over a gas flame or under a preheated broiler, turning occasionally, until charred all over. Transfer to a plate and let cool. Peel the pepper and chile and discard the stems and seeds; cut into 1/4-inch dice and transfer to the bowl with the shallot mixture. Stir in the fish sauce, lime juice, honey, sambal oelek and sesame oil. Heat up the dressing so it’s very warm, but not quite hot.  Season the dressing with salt.

4.  Pour the warm dressing over the cooled potatoes (it’s important that one is hot and one cold, so the potatoes absorb most of the dressing) and lobster chunks.  Let sit at room temperature for about an hour so the potatoes can absorb the dressing, tossing occasionally. Top with chopped, toasted peanuts, mint, cilantro and serve warm.