Perfect your picnic with Martha's potato salad
A delicious side dish recipe sure to spruce up your barbecues and meals
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Prepare Martha's perfect potato salad May 23: The food maven shows TODAY host Meredith Vieira how to make this dish a hit at your holiday barbecue. Today Show Kitchen |
Just in time for Memorial Day and to kick off the barbecue season, Martha Stewart shares a delicious side dish recipe. These "potato salad pointers" are perfect for any meal:
Serves 8
Potatoes make satisfying side dishes in all seasons, summer included. What would a picnic be without potato salad? Opinions on which ingredients are essential to potato salad can vary (maybe your must-include is hard-cooked egg, or diced onion, or sweet pickle relish). Regardless, the starting point must be a basic recipe that promises a good outcome every time. My stripped-down method does just that -- all the salad needs are creative additions to make it your own.
INGREDIENTS
Set a steamer basket in a Dutch oven (or large pot with a lid), and add enough salted water to come just below basket; bring to a boil.
Place potatoes in basket, cover pot, and reduce heat to a gentle simmer. Steam potatoes, gently tossing occasionally, until tender, 15 to 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine vinegar, scallion whites, 1 teaspoon coarse salt, and teaspoon pepper.
Add hot potatoes to vinegar mixture; toss to combine. Cool to room temperature, tossing occasionally, about 1 hour.
Add mayonnaise and scallion greens to cooled potatoes; mix gently to combine. Serve, or cover and refrigerate up to 2 days.
- For a potato salad that doesn't end up mushy, use waxy potatoes, which keep their shape better than starchy baking potatoes.
- For even cooking, make sure the potatoes are cut into uniform pieces.
- For a hint of sweetness, add a pinch of sugar to the vinegar mixture. For extra tang, sub in sour cream for some of the mayonnaise.
- For warm-weather picnics, make a no-mayo version: replace the mayo in my basic recipe with 1/2 cup olive oil whisked with 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard.
- For balanced flavor, keep your mix-ins simple (but still be creative). I like celery and hard-cooked egg. Take it easy on salty and acidic ingredients (combining, say, pickles, capers, and olives would be too much).
Mix-and-Match Mix-Ins (add after salad cools)
Sliced celery
Diced red onion
Sweet pickle relish
Chopped pickles
Slivered green olives
Capers
Chopped herbs
Chopped hard-cooked eggs
Crumbled bacon
MANAGE YOUR RECIPES
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For more helpful tips and recipe ideas, visit www.marthastewart.com/grilling.
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