Elevate your regular potato salad

Bibi Hutchings, a lifelong Southerner, lives along a quiet coastal Alabama bay with her cat, Zulu, and husband, Tom. She writes about the magical way food evokes memories, instantly bringing you back to the people, places and experiences of your life. Her stories take you all around the South and are accompanied with tried-and-true recipes that are destined to become a part of your memory-making as you share them with your friends and family.

I am a potato aficionado and can live up to that brag any day of the week.

First, I have an inordinate amount of love in my heart for all potatoes — yes, all — and that has to be criteria number one for my self-appointed title. Secondly, neither my enthusiasm nor my appreciation for them has ever waned, never: not when they were overly revered in the 1980s and '90s, not when they were vilified by Adkins and his ilk in the early Aughts, and certainly not now in the era of "expert" recommendations differing so dramatically and shifting so frequently. 

Sure, I pick a favorite now and again and go through spells where I get a little obsessed with a certain kind, like a child latching on to a favorite cereal, but I snap out of it. All it takes is a change of season or a shift in the weather, or to catch sight of those lovely multi-hued, darling little heirloom fingerlings at the market, and I am back to enjoying all the seemingly endless varieties available.  

Simply stated, potatoes never let me down. They are my go-to when nothing sounds particularly appetizing or when I have a crowd to feed, especially when I need a gluten-free or grain-free option, and they are as unfussy as can be. Like my sweet cat, Zulu, they do not require my constant attention, and that alone I appreciate more than I can say. 

I have never met a potato that — once fried, baked, roasted, whipped or boiled — I could not turn into something delicious, satisfying and, every so often, over-the-top fantastic. Am I gifted? Perhaps, but potatoes make it pretty easy.

Now, you will hear me sing a different tune when it comes to potato salad. I do enjoy it on occasion, but at its best, it is boring. At its worst and least inspired, it is as bland as a slice of white sandwich bread just pulled out of the bag and laid on the side of your plate. It is the elevator music, the Muzak, of potato dishes. 

That said, my mother made good potato salad, and I have enjoyed other “good” potato salad. Here is the thing: if you make good potato salad, there are certain meals that call for it. It is just the thing alongside fried chicken or messy barbecue or most anything pulled off the grill on a hot summer day, but you would be hard pressed to convince me that plain ol’ potato salad — mostly white, soupy with mayonnaise — is something all that special on its own.

Artichoke Potato Salad, on the other hand, is ladies' luncheon, serve in a pretty bowl, snip some fresh dill, bring on the flavor, bring on the texture, pizzaz-y potato salad. It breaks with tradition, has a big personality and in no way will you relegate it to the backyard picnic table. 

Wine vinegar, Dijon mustard and fresh dill give the dressing punchy high notes. The quartered artichoke hearts and briny chopped olives (or dill pickles) add texture and additional pops of flavor. It is not a pretentious salad, but it is lighter, fresher and endlessly more interesting than typical potato salad. 

With the weather warming, having a flavorful, mixed salad ready and waiting in the refrigerator for me is all I am craving. Used as part of a salad plate with mixed greens as the base, your evening meal is ready in a snap. Last night, I had a spoonful of leftover Radish and Chickpea Salad on one side and Artichoke Potato Salad on the other, and I was in salad heaven. 

Artichoke Potato Salad

Yields

6 servings

Prep Time

5 minutes

Cook Time

25 minutes (plus 4 hours cooling time)
 

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds small new potatoes, unpeeled and scrubbed 

1 small sweet onion (like Vidalia), finely minced

1 12-ounce jar or can quartered artichoke hearts, drained 

1/3 to 1/2 cup mayonnaise

2 to 3 tablespoons sherry vinegar (or wine vinegar of choice), divided

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Extra virgin olive oil, if needed

1 to 2 teaspoons dried dill or 1 to 2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped

2 hard boiled eggs, roughly chopped

Zest of 1 to 2 lemons

1 to 1 1/2 cups chopped stuffed green olives or drained muffuletta olive salad (like Davinia brand) —OR— chopped dill pickles

Black pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Cook potatoes in salty water for about 20 minutes until just tender. Drain and chill.

2. While potatoes are cooling, finely mince onion and place in bottom of bowl large enough to hold all ingredients easily.

3. Add 1 tablespoons sherry vinegar and stir to coat. Set aside.

4. Drain artichoke hearts, gently squeeze to remove excess liquid and place on top of minced onion.

5. In a small bowl, mix mayonnaise, the remaining tablespoon of sherry vinegar, Dijon mustard, dill, and black pepper. Add a swirl of olive oil for flavor or to thin mixture a bit if desired. Set aside.

6. Add chopped eggs to mixing bowl then add lemon zest.

7. Once potatoes are chilled, cut into small bite sized pieces and add to mixing bowl.

8. Add either 1 cup of chopped, stuffed olives or (my preference) drained muffuletta mix OR a 1/2 cup or more of finely chopped dill pickles to bowl. (I drain and use the entire 13 oz jar when using muffuletta olive salad. See Cook’s Notes for more.)

9. Add mayonnaise mixture and gently fold in until all is coated well. 

10. Taste and add additional olives, olive salad, or pickles.

11. Sometimes I stir in a squeeze of fresh lemon juice if I feel there is enough vinegar, but would like more zing. 

12. Cover and chill several hours before making additional adjustments to seasonings.   

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Cook's Notes

What to use—olives or pickles?

You know, I am going to say they are both good, but I prefer olives and the addition of extra olive oil. In fact, if your preferred mayonnaise has a strong flavor, like many of the “healthier” mayos on the market now, you may want to reduce the amount and add in olive oil (or another neutral oil) to make up the difference. My sister, whose taste I trust more than my own for most things, prefers the dill pickle route for this recipe. Let what you have on hand be the deciding factor. If you go with pickles, go a bit heavier with the dill, use fresh if you can, and use a lighter touch (or omit) the olive oil.

What to do if you have marinated artichokes on hand instead of plain?

Drain the artichoke hearts well, omit or reduce the olive oil, and reduce the vinegar by half until you taste the final product. If it is not punchy enough once all is incorporated, add more vinegar.

By the way, do you have a mini-chopper?

I am not a kitchen gadget sort of person, but I am a fan of the manual mini-chopper (not electric, which feels like too much of a commitment). If you use it for nothing more than to finely mince fresh onion for homemade salad dressings, it is worth the $20 investment.