Friday, February 4, 2011

Best Potato Salad Recipe

"Pray for peace and grace and spiritual food,
For wisdom and guidance, for all these are good,
but don't forget the potatoes." ~ John Tyler Pettee in "Prayer and Potatoes".

Potatoes are undoubtedly one of the best creations of God and I am yet to taste another more versatile food item. You can breakfast, snack, lunch and dine on potatoes and each time you shall be satiated to the fullest. I personally can never have enough potatoes. It's amazing how you can do just anything to this otherwise bland and colorless root and almost never go wrong with it. Let's take a salad for instance. Talk to any chef from any part of the globe and they will tell you how difficult it is to actually come up with a perfect salad dressing. Every thing has to be just right to bring out the flavor of every ingredient in this apparently easy to prepare dish. Even in such a case potatoes conveniently take on all the aromas and tastes that they are expected to, in salads of varied genres, be it in cold potato salad recipes or German potato salad recipes. They are the most complying vegetables ever, with no particular flavor of their own. It was probably for this effortless versatility of potatoes that England's monarch, Henry IV's favorite salad was one with diced boiled potatoes with sardines and herb dressing. While eating it, I am sure that the thought of potatoes being a foreign food item, that traveled from North America to Europe, thanks to the Spanish conquistadors, to never have crossed his mind. So, here are some of the best potato salad recipes for you to try out as you ponder on the fact that unlike the fact that soy sauce gives a Chinese touch to food and oregano leaves that Italian taste in the palette, potato becomes that country's, in which it is being cooked!

Honey Mustard Potato Salad

Ingredients:
  • Thin-skinned potato, 200 g
  • Red bell pepper, 20 g (diced)
  • Celery, 10 g (sliced)
  • Leek, 1 (minced)
  • Honey, 1/4 teaspoon
  • Dijon mustard, ¼ teaspoon
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
Procedure:
This potato recipe requires you to begin by scrubbing the potatoes and cutting them into cubes. Do not peel off the skin. Then put them to steam. In the mean while mix the bell pepper, celery, leek, honey and mustard in another vessel. Sprinkle a dash of salt and freshly crushed black pepper on the mixture. Now remove the potatoes from the stove when they are cooked but not soft and squashy. Drain the water and put the firm potatoes in the bowl of mixture. Toss enough to blend everything and serve. It is really that easy a delicacy to concoct!

French Potato Salad Recipe

Ingredients:
  • Potatoes, 1.5 kg (not peeled)
  • Parsley, 2/3rd of a cup (shredded)
  • Leek, 2/3rd of a cup (minced)
  • Almonds, 1/3rd of a cup (slivered and toasted at 180°C for 10 minutes)
  • White wine vinegar, 50 ml
  • Tarragon, 21/2 tablespoons (crushed)
  • Olive oil, ½ a cup
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
Procedure:
Wash the potatoes very well and then bring them to a boil in salt water. When they become soft, drain the water and allow them to dry. Peel and cut them into cubes and keep aside. Now mix the parsley, leek, vinegar and tarragon with the help of the olive oil and sprinkle some salt and pepper on top. Place the potato cubes in the mixture and toss well. Allow it to stand undisturbed for about 45 minutes and then add the golden brown almonds. You will have to make this salad a little in advance as after the almonds are added to the salad, you have to place a lid on the salad and store it in a cool, dry place for a minimum of 3 hours. After that it is ready to be served.

Creamy Potato Salad with Dill

Ingredients:
  • Potatoes, 16 oz (boiled)
  • Dill, 2 teaspoons (shredded)
  • Eggs, 3 (hard boiled and quartered)
  • Onion, 2 tablespoons (minced)
  • Celery, 1/4th of a cup
  • Sour cream, 1/4th of a cup
  • Red wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon
  • Dijon mustard, 1 tablespoon
  • Olive oil, 1/4th a cup
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
Procedure:
Cube the potatoes and keep aside. Now, mix the cream, vinegar, mustard, onions, eggs and potatoes with the help of the oil. Toss for a while and then add the dill and the celery and toss again. Finally add dash of salt and pepper and voila! You're done with this recipe for creamy potato salad.

Potato salads are simply delicious and are the most fun to eat during the summers. Today, one single person in the US consumes about 125 pounds of this distant relative of tomato and tobacco, on an average, annually. So, season your palette with more potato delicacies by trying out these delectably best potato salad recipes.

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