As far as I know, I have always loved potato salad and hated
mayonnaise. This is usually a
contradiction, since most potato salad recipes I’ve seen (and eaten) contain
mayonnaise. And I’ve had delicious vegan
potato salad before, for sure. It’s just
that when I made it at home, it was never tasty. Luckily I’ve finally figured out how to make
the perfect mayonnaise-free potato salad, and, since I seem incapable of
sharing the finished product with anyone (yum yum yum - and it’s gone), I will
share the recipe.
Step One: Boil Whole
Potatoes.
I’ve gotten this part wrong in the past - you want your
potatoes to be soft enough to mash - I’ve always thought you wanted to stop
before that point, but I was wrong. Also, by
boiling them whole, you ensure that there are varying textures of potatoes,
which I think makes a more pleasing salad.
I used 1.5 lbs (which, as far as I'm concerned, makes about 2 servings).
Step Two: Make Vinaigrette.
I made mayonnaise from scratch, recently, to see what it was
all about. It was gross. All mayonnaise is gross. But I discovered mayonnaise is about 50 parts
oil to one part egg, which led me to realize that in my attempts, I have been making dry potato salad... because it didn’t have enough fat. I guess fat
makes potato salad delicious. (When I
eat vegetable salads, I generally don’t use any olive oil, just balsamic
vinegar. I like to think that makes up
for this.)
Now, your vinaigrette should be to your liking. Mine is about 1/3 cup olive oil, 3 T balsamic
vinegar, a heaping teaspoon or maybe a tablespoon of Dijon mustard, some
horseradish, some garlic if I feel like it, and maybe a 2nd kind of
mustard. I like mustard. (It has everything mayonnaise does not:
flavor.) Whisk to emulsify. Taste.
Adjust. Salt, pepper, more oil,
more vinegar, maybe a third kind of mustard - whatever you’d like.
Step Three: Add More
Stuff
Just potatoes and dressing isn’t enough - I like my potato
salad to have a bit of crunch, and so I chop up about 1/3 c raw red onion. This gives it crunch and flavor. If I ever had celery, I would definitely use
it. An herb is almost required - parsley
is classic. The opportunities are endless. Olives, capers, hard-boiled eggs, Prepare everything before
removing potatoes from their boiling water.
Step Four: Mixing together.
I usually throw the vegetables in the bottom of a big bowl,
and then I start on the potatoes. I take
them off the stove and set them in cold water, so that I can touch them, but
when I cut into them they are steaming.
I have heard that hot potatoes soak up the dressing better, which makes
sense to me, I guess. Cut into
bite-sized chunks, and throw into the bowl.
Pour on the dressing and stir it up between each potato, to distribute
as much as possible. Taste, season, and
then cover and put it in the fridge quickly so you don’t eat it all while it’s still
warm
