Herbed Potato Salad with Green Peppercorns

Maybe because it was already many months ago that I last made a potato salad, this one tasted so good when I made it last week. I made it to accompany grilled meat. And because a long weekend, which traditionally starts the grilling season is coming up, I decided today to share the recipe for that salad.

Potato salads or salads with potatoes as their main ingredient are quite popular in many cuisines. But because they are so known I always look for a new and refreshing ideas on how to prepare them.

Last winter, I bought in an Indian spice store a large jar of green peppercorn pickles. Although I shared the jar with my friend I was still left with a lot. I added them to a fillet mignon steak sauce, but still the jar remained rather full.

Last week I decided to make a potato salad from baby potatoes I got at TJ. My herbs are already blooming in my herb yard, so I thought that a herb potato salad would be a great accompaniment to grilled meat I was preparing.

But although herbs were exceptionally fresh and I added a lot of chives, the salad seemed still too mild when I tasted it. Then green peppercorns came to the rescue. I added a generous spoon of them and the salad became instantly stronger, almost spicy when you bit a peppercorn. It tasted great with grilled beef.

Of course you do not need to buy a 27-oz jar or a yearly supply of peppercorns. A small jar sold in most food stores is absolutely enough. But it is worth trying as the salad season begins.

Herbed Potato Salad with Green Peppercorns

Ingredients:
1 lb of baby potatoes or wax potatoes,
1/3 cup mixed fresh herbs such as dill, chives, oregano, tarragon and thyme, finely chopped,
3 tbsp low fat Greek yogurt,
2 tbsp mayonnaise,
1/2 tsp sugar,
2 tbsp olive oil,
1 tbsp green peppercorn pickles,
salt to taste.

Preparation:
1. Cook potatoes, let them cool and place them in a large bowl. Cut the large potatoes into small cubes.
2. In a small bowl pour in oil, yogurt, mayonnaise, sugar and pinch of salt. Whip all the ingredients using a whisker.
3. Add chopped herbs to the dressing. Mix again.
4. Pour the sauce over the potatoes, sprinkle with peppercorns and mix.

Crunchy Potato Salad with Nuts

Just before I went on vacation, I hosted a few deck parties, at which I served mostly grilled meats and fish accompanied by salads and followed by chilled desserts--the only reasonable option on those hot July days.

I usually prepare at least a couple of cold salads to serve with the meats so everybody can find something to his taste. This season the biggest hit was my corn salad in mango dressing. The runner up was this potato salad and several friends have already asked me to the share a recipe for it.

Unlike in German tradition for example, in Polish cuisine there is no potato salad in the strict sense of the term. Potatoes are usually not the main but one of many ingredients. Nevertheless, my Polish guests particularly appreciated this simple salad, which is soft, thanks to the potatoes, and crunchy at the same time. The crunchiness comes from the celery sticks and nuts.

I made this salad with hazel nuts, which are very common in Poland. But I also make it sometimes with pecans. Either version is always very popular. This salad will taste great with grilled meats or served for lunch with bread and cold cuts.

Potato Salad with Nuts

Ingredients:
1 lb potatoes,
2 celery sticks,
2 small shallots,
1/4 cup roasted and chopped hazelnuts or pecans,
2 tbsp mayonnaise,
salt and pepper to taste.

Preparation:
1. Peel off potatoes and cut them in halves. Cook until soft and let them cool down completely, then cut into smaller cubes. Place them in a large bowl.
2. Peel of shallots and chop finely. Add to the potatoes.
3. Slice celery sticks into thin slices, add to the bowl.

4. Add chopped nuts, salt, pepper, mayonnaise. Mix gently all the ingredients and serve.

Pomegranate and Potato Salad--Unexpected Combination

I would think that any potato salad is such a culinary cliché that it would not be worth paying attention to. On every salad bar menu there is at least one. But I noticed recently that somehow potato salads have been undergoing a renaissance. At least, when I have guests from Europe for BBQ dinners, potato salads are a big hit.

So when I heard about this salad I could not wait to make it, also because of its other ingredients. It sure has potatoes, but for me the most exciting element in it was pomegranate, which I absolutely love. It is one of the most picturesque fruits, always looking good on photos, and also one of the most healthy, loaded with antioxidants, Vitamin K, and iron.

The pomegranate season has just begun, so this is a very opportune time to share this recipe. I am not sure where this salad comes from, but having some knowledge of Afghan cuisine I would guess that it might have come from there, although it might as well have come from Georgia, where they also love pomegranates and coriander.

I know that pomegranate can be tricky. If they are not entirely ripe their seeds have texture similar to grape seeds and not everyone enjoys them. But most of those fruits sold here are very tasty and of that have that awesome bloody color, which indicates that they are sweet and juicy. In that case, the crunchiness of the seeds should not overshadow their taste. Thanks to pomegranates, an ordinary potato salad turns into a very interesting dish, with a sweet and sour vinous taste. It goes great with cold cuts and grilled meats.

Pomegranate and Potato Salad
(Serves 4-6)

Ingredients:
4 large white potatoes (about a pound),
one pomegranate,
half a medium onion,
half a cup chopped fresh coriander leaves,
3 tbsp mayonnaise,
salt and pepper to taste.

Preparation:
1. Cut potatoes in halves and cook them in salted water until soft. Cool down and peel them off. Cut into small cubes and place in a large bowl.
2. Peel the pomegranate and using hands shuck the seeds out of the white membranes (which are inedible). Add all the seeds to the potatoes.
3. Peel onion and slice it thinly. Add to the bowl.
4. Chop the coriander. Add to the bowl.

5. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add mayonnaise and mix gently.