My oldest son (T) loves potato salad, especially this recipe which is one that I’ve created over the years.  He craves it.  Once the craving gets into his system, he pesters me mercilessly until I make it for him, although now that he’s old enough, I make him help with all of the washing and chopping.  We make a huge batch of it, and he’ll eat it for any meal of the day plus snacks until it’s gone.  I made a smaller batch once, and he complained it wasn’t enough.  I do like this potato salad, but I’m not quite as addicted to it as T is.

I like my mayonnaise to mustard ratio higher than T does.  He would probably prefer it if I reversed the amounts of mayo and mustard in this.  When I know I’m not going to be eating it, I will double or triple the mustard amount to make him happier.  Given that I used to eat mustard sandwiches as a child (mustard spread between two pieces of white bread– a thought that makes my stomach turn as an adult!), I can’t really blame him for his mustard addiction, either.

T would probably prefer I put crumbled bacon in this as well, but bacon is a special treat around our household since just cooking it often gives me a migraine.  Eating bacon is out of the question for me.

This is a great recipe for the upcoming months when potatoes, green onions, peppers, and dill are readily available at local farmers’ markets in Austin.  I substituted orange and red peppers in this batch because I wanted more color.  But generally speaking, I will use whatever peppers I have fresh and on hand.

T’s Favorite Potato Salad

~4 pounds of organic small red potatoes (Yukon Gold work well, too)
3 stalks of organic celery, sliced thin (about 1 cup)
2-3 organic green onions (about ½ cup)
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh organic dill (do not substitute dried)
1 medium organic green pepper, finely diced (about 1 cup)
2 tablespoons prepared organic yellow mustard
2-3 teaspoons sea salt
½ teaspoon organic black pepper
1 cup organic mayonnaise*
6 hard-boiled organic eggs, diced*

Wash and trim the potatoes, leaving the skins on as much as possible.  Place in a large oven proof pot with a lid, and add about 1 cup of water to the bottom to help steam them.  Bake covered for about 45 minutes at 400F, checking to make sure they are fully baked.  If not, bake for longer.  (I will often bake all of a 5 pound bag and then use the remaining potatoes for other recipes or to feed plain to my child who doesn’t like potato salad.) Take potatoes out of the pot and allow to cool.

While the potatoes are cooking and cooling, prepare the rest of the vegetables including the dill.  Once the potatoes are cool, mix together all of the vegetables with the potatoes.  Sprinkle with the salt and pepper, top with the mayonnaise and mustard, and stir well.  Add in the eggs, and gently stir one final time.

Makes an absurdly large amount of potato salad.

*To make this recipe vegan friendly, use a mayo substitute like Vegenaise and omit the hard-boiled eggs.  I will often forget to make eggs and so we will eat it eggless, though my kids prefer it with eggs.

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