Red, White & Blue Potato Salad ♥

Red, White & Blue Potato Salad (red-skinned, white-skinned and amazing blue potatoes)
Today's festive potato salad recipe, made with a mix of red-skinned, white-skinned and amazing blue-colored potatoes. Packed with summer vegetables: red bell pepper, radishes and sweet corn. Perfect for 4th of July and other American patriotic holiday gatherings. Not "low carb" (it's potato salad, after all) but still, a "lower carb" potato salad, thanks to so many vegetables and a higher measure of protein thanks to the addition of eggs and Greek yogurt.

Happy Canada Day to my Canadian family, readers and visitors! Happy 4th of July to my American family, readers and visitors! I'm so proud of my "mixed" heritage!

Call it the "Finnish potato effect" but since returning from our trip to the Baltic last month, we've cooked potatoes left and right, inside and out, forwards and backwards.

Ten days ago, I mixed up a big batch of potato salad for the summer potluck with our "mushroom club" friends: all the dishes followed vegetarian recipes from Molly Katzen and her Moosewood cookbooks. Just for fun, I made the potato salad with red, white and blue potatoes and it turns out, they really were fun! The blue potatoes, especially, are truly blue and when you don't use too many of them, they don't seem "weird" at all, just special. Once you add other "red" ingredients – radishes and red bell pepper, roasted red peppers would work too – the potato salad takes on a special festive look that really works for American-style patriotic holidays like the 4th of July, Memorial Day and even Labor Day.

But a red, white and blue potato salad is more than a colorful gimmick: it's a really good potato salad! I started with the Moosewood recipe but adapted it to my own taste, much like my Mom’s Potato Salad. It's full of summer veggies so has great crunch. I found it to be one excellent potato salad and so did others: it "went" in a flash at the potluck and the next day our friend Barb wrote, "I can't stop thinking about your potato salad!" I've made two batches in two weeks, apparently I can't either!

RECIPE for RED, WHITE & BLUE POTATO SALAD

Hands-on time: 50 minutes
Time to table: 6 - 24 hours
Makes about 11 cups

POTATOES
3 pounds potatoes, a mix of red, white and blue potatoes
Cold well-salted water

CHOPPED STUFF
2 ribs celery, diced small
1/2 red onion, diced very small
4 green onions, white and green parts, diced small
1 red bell pepper, diced small
4 radishes, diced small
3 ears corn, kernels only (How to Cut Corn Off the Cob, Keeping All Ten Fingers, Capturing Every Delicious Kernel and Every Drop of Sweet Corn 'Milk')
2 hard-cooked eggs (Perfect Hard-Cooked Eggs)

POTATO SALAD DRESSING
2/3 cup (140g) mayonnaise (I use low-fat Hellman's)
2/3 cup (150g) non-fat Greek yogurt (I use 0% Fage)
1/3 cup (85g) sugar-free sweet relish
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon sugar (don't skip!)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Generous sprinkling freshly ground pepper

TO GARNISH
Chopped radishes, whole radishes

POTATOES Bring potatoes and water to a boil, cover and let simmer until a knife inserts easily into the center of the potatoes. Drain and let cool completely, even overnight for easier cutting. If you like, peel the potatoes. Cut into small cubes.

CHOPPED STUFF While the potatoes cook, prep the veggies.

POTATO SALAD DRESSING In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients. It will taste quite salty but don't worry, will work out once the potatoes and chopped stuff are stirred in.

COMBINE Combine potatoes, chopped stuff and potato salad dressing. Taste and adjust seasoning. Refrigerate until chilled through, preferably for at least six hours, as many as 24 hours before serving. Keeps for a week in the fridge, but if you plan to serve the potato salad over several days, dole it out, enough for one meal at a time.

ALANNA's TIPS & KITCHEN NOTES
BLUE POTATOES, REALLY? Yes, they're gorgeous and truly a purple-y blue color, especially after being peeled. My grocery store carries 28-ounce bags of red, white and blue potatoes. I bought two bags to have "enough" blue potatoes for this batch. After cooking, their "red" potatoes are very pale so next time I'll buy red-skinned red potatoes on their own. The blue potatoes taste the same, they're slightly more waxy than a Yukon gold, say.
WHY COOL THE POTATOES If there's time, cool the potatoes way down, even overnight in the refrigerator. First, the potatoes will cut more cleanly. Second, you'll need less dressing since cold potatoes don't "suck up" the dressing the way warm potatoes do.
CORN? Corn isn't traditional in potato salad but I really loved it here.
RED BELL PEPPER This particular batch was made with an orange bell pepper, what was on hand. I didn't think the switch from red to orange would make much difference in the overall impression of red color in the potato salad: it does.
HANDY TOOLS A bench knife for moving the "chopped stuff" to a bowl; a colander for draining the potatoes; a compost bowl for gathering scraps; a tomato knife makes for clean cuts, especially if you leave the potato skins on and also makes quick work of the corn; a wire egg slicer for cutting up the eggs; a kitchen scale for measuring ingredients without measuring cups.



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MORE FAVORITE SUMMER SALAD RECIPES for POTLUCKS
~ Classic Seven-Layer Salad ~
~ Summer Orzo ~
~ Fattoush (Traditional Middle Eastern Salad) ~
~ Summer Black-Eyed Pea Salad ~
from A Veggie Venture

~ more Favorite Summer Salad Recipes ~
~ Holy Slaw! ~
~ Quinoa & Black Bean Salad ~
~ Greek Pasta Salad ~
~ more salad recipes ~
from Kitchen Parade

A Veggie Venture is home of 'veggie evangelist' Alanna Kellogg and the
famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.
© Copyright Kitchen Parade 2014


Alanna Kellogg
Alanna Kellogg

A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.

Comments

  1. Love the idea of mixing in veggies with my potato salad, the corn in particular. Tasty! I've never worked with blue potatoes, but now you have me curious -- I should do that. I have to say, though, that having the warm potatoes suck up the dressing is a feature, not a bug. ;-) Good recipe -- thanks.

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  2. John ~ The corn was really good, both flavor and texture, definitely something to keep in mind for potato salad. And the blue potatoes are quite cool, the color is “very” blue and yet the taste/texture is much the same -- seems like I read something that maybe they have lower starch? lower glycemic? lower something anyway. :-) As for “sucking up”? Good point. Have a great 4th --

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  3. Do you cook the three ears of corn for the salad or is it added raw to the salad?

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  4. Cindy ~ Fresh sweet corn is so sweet and tender, it can be left raw for the salad, adding nice crunch compared to the soft potatoes. But if you preferred it cooked, sure, go ahead, either way! PS Sorry about appearing to not reply until now. I left a reply as soon as your question arrived but learned just now (many hours later) that it didn’t post. Ack, technology!

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  5. I'll call this the patriot salad. I'm loving this low carb, crunchy, summer salad.

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  6. Jeff ~ I like it! Patriot Potato Salad it is!

    ReplyDelete

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Thank you for taking a moment to write! I read each and every comment, for each and every recipe, whether a current recipe or a long-ago favorite. If you have a specific question, it's nearly always answered quick-quick. ~ Alanna