Cooking

Punch up Your Picnic

Turn Your Summer Potato Salad Into Haute Cuisine

    It’s September—the best month of the year for picnics and outdoor fun in the Bay Area. Everyone, it seems, has a favorite memory about picnics and, of course, favorite picnic foods. Growing up in the rural South, I remember some great summertime picnics, often with more than a hundred people, sometimes with just our immediate family. No matter how small or how large the group, just being outdoors in the summertime, having fun with friends, made these events memorable. What was served had to do with locale, heritage and what was available, but the food always made everything about a picnic better.
    Some of the favorite dishes we enjoyed were fried chicken, coleslaw, fruit pies, watermelon, green beans cooked every imaginable way, many variations of Jell-O salad and my favorite, potato salad. In the South, if you ate potato salad, you could count on it being made with potatoes, celery seeds, hard-boiled eggs, pickles and salad dressing—not mayonnaise, but the Southern substitute made to taste like mayonnaise but with tons of sugar added. No one ever brought potato salad made in a deli or grocery store, because neither could they afford it nor would it have reflected well on their cooking reputation to bring something they themselves had not prepared.
    It was not until I became an adult that I learned there are almost as many variations of potato salad as there are cultures. One of my early favorites was German-style with bacon and lots of vinegar. Later, when I worked in a restaurant that had a takeout counter, I learned to prepare at least a dozen varieties of potato salad using only fresh ingredients, good potatoes and seasonal vegetables that complemented the potatoes.
    The accompanying recipe is a result of these many different recipes. I have combined the best of several styles and techniques to make a dish that gets great reviews and compliments whenever I serve it at parties or picnics. One of the adaptations is cooking the potatoes twice—once in water to keep them moist, and then roasted in the oven to add a slight crunch and toasted flavor. In my opinion this elevates potato salad to “great food” status.

SUMMER POTATO SALAD
3    pounds small Yukon gold potatoes, washed and cut in half
2    tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
1    teaspoon salt
1    teaspoon fresh ground pepper
¼   cup extra virgin olive oil
2    sweet red peppers, roasted, peeled and chopped (you can use canned if necessary)
3    tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes in oil, chopped
3    stalks of celery, washed and sliced diagonally into thin pieces
1    large shallot, minced

DRESSING
2    cloves garlic, peeled and left whole
3    tablespoons good-quality Dijon mustard
2    tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1    tablespoon white wine vinegar
¾   cup good-quality mayonnaise Dash of Tabasco sauce

    Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the potatoes and garlic and simmer until the potatoes are just tender, about 5–7 minutes. Do not overcook. Drain the potatoes and garlic. Set the garlic aside for the dressing. In a large bowl, mix the potatoes, chopped rosemary, salt, pepper and olive oil. Toss gently until the potatoes are uniformly coated with the oil and herbs. Pour the potatoes onto a sheet pan and spread into a single layer. Place in the oven and cook until the potatoes just begin to brown and form a crust (5–7 minutes). Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature.
    While the potatoes are cooking, make the dressing. Whisk together all the ingredients including the cooked garlic, which you should mash before adding to the mixture. Pour the dressing into a container with a lid and place in the refrigerator. It will keep for seven to 10 days.
    When you are ready to serve the potato salad, mix the potatoes, red peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, celery, shallot and 1/2 cup of the dressing. Toss gently and add more dressing as needed to coat all the potatoes. Taste, and add more salt and pepper to taste. This potato salad is best served at room temperature but is also good served cold. Serves four to six.

—By Roy Creekmore

—Photography by Paul Skrentny