Potato Salad Season

Since I've made potato salad roughly three times in the past month, I decided it was time to share. Granted - potato salad is not difficult to make, and this is not a remake of the original. This is the potato salad I grew up with, compliments of my Maine-born-and-raised mother. The below recipe makes enough for a crowd (15-20 people), and leaves leftovers which are better than eating the freshly made stuff. This is a rough outline for a recipe to do with as you will.

6-7 lbs red skinned potatoes

2 packages of frozen peas
3-4 stalks of celery, finely minced
1/4 - 1/2 large red onion, finely minced
3 scallions (all parts) trimmed, chopped, optional
6 hard boiled eggs, chopped
1 1/2 cups or so of Hellmann’s Light Mayonnaise
2-3 heaping tablespoons of Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons salt, or to taste
Lots of freshly ground black pepper

Having made this so much recently, I feel like somewhat of an expert in this style of potato salad. This is far from the truth, but I have acquired many tips - so be warned.

First throw halved (if large) or whole potatoes into a large stockpot. Fill with cold water and place over very high heat, cover. Bring it to a rolling boil, which will roughly take 30-40 minutes. While the potatoes are cooking combine celery, red onion, mayo, mustard, salt and pepper. Let peas thaw on counter or put them in a colander and run warm water over them.

This is the fun part: after the potatoes have come to a boil and have cooked for 20 minutes, stick a fork in one to check for doneness. If you can easily slide the fork in and the potato breaks apart easily - turn off the heat. Drain the potatoes and put half back in the pot. Here I break apart the potatoes with a fork and knife into large, irregular chunks (skins and all). This also creates a starchy potato mush that I live for. Combine half of the potato mixture to the mayo mixture. Repeat with the remainder of the potatoes. Lastly, fold in peas and eggs. You can't over mix this, so go to town. Check for seasoning as you may like it saltier (add salt, duh), more piquant (mustard or pepper), or more wet (mayo or starchy potato water). Sprinkle with scallions if you're into that. Dig in!