When I think back to my childhood days, I have a very fond memory of my mother’s potato salad. This is probably the case with many people, but one has to be careful. Trying to create the taste of childhood is a slippery slope filled with our adult expectations. Time and distance change many things such as memory, experiences and knowledge.
Potato salad is widely believed to have originated in Germany and was brought to America by German immigrants. The thing I remember most about my mother’s potato salad was that it consisted of only a small ingredient list and had a nice slightly sweet but tart dressing. If I’m not wrong, I believe she used a bit of juice from her bread & butter pickles in the dressing. The other magic ingredient was some of her new potatoes from the garden. As the saying goes, it was ‘to die for’.
I’m not sure how popular potato salad is anymore but since its the season, I wanted to share a couple of salad recipes.
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- 1.5 kg. potatoes, cooked & cubed
- 4 eggs, hard boiled & coarsely chopped
- 1/2 bunch green onions, sliced
- 6 radishes, sliced (optional)
- black olives, sliced (optional)
- 1 3/4 cups 'lite', whipped salad dressing
- 1/4 cup vinegar
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 Tbsp mustard
- 1 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp celery seed
- 1/2 tsp dill weed
- 3 slices bacon, fried, not too crisp & chopped
- 700 gm potatoes, cooked & cubed
- 400 gm cauliflower florets, sliced
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup onion, diced
- 2 eggs, hard cooked, coarsely chopped
- 1 1/2 cups 'lite', whipped salad dressing
- 2 Tbsp cider vinegar
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp mustard
- 1 tsp garlic salt
Ingredients
German Potato Salad
German Cauliflower Salad
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- In a large pot, cook potatoes in salted boiling water. Cool, peel & cube. Boil eggs & coarsely chop. In a saucepan, fry bacon until crisp. Remove from pan & blot on paper towel reserving bacon drippings for dressing. Crumble bacon. Slice green onion & radishes. Place everything EXCEPT the radishes in a large bowl.
- In a bowl, whisk together reserved bacon drippings, light salad dressing, vinegar, sugar, mustard, salt, celery seed & dill weed. Blend well. Pour over potato mixture & carefully combine well. Cover & refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
- Just prior to serving, add radishes & add more salt if necessary. Carefully combine & serve.
- In a saucepan, fry bacon until crisp, Remove from pan, reserving bacon drippings.
- Preheat oven to 400 F. Line a baking sheet with foil & coat with cooking spray. Spread cauliflower florets on foil; sprinkle with salt & pepper to taste. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until cauliflower begins to brown slightly. Remove from oven & cool slightly.
- While the cauliflower bakes, saute the onion in bacon drippings until tender. Set aside. Cook, peel & cube potatoes.
- In a small dish, combine salad dressing, cider vinegar, sugar, mustard & garlic salt. In a large bowl, combine potatoes, cauliflower, sauteed onion & dressing. Fold together & taste to see if more salt is needed. Serve as is or chilled.
- I found, if you add the radishes just before serving keeps them crisp & prevents them from 'bleeding' their color into the salad.
- In regards to the cauliflower salad, I have also made it leaving the cauliflower RAW & substituting the white onion for green. I liked that added bit of 'crunch'.