Yesterday's food craving was none other than potato salad. I do not even like mayonnaise. I have never made a purchase from a grocery store deli before. But that didn't stop me from going to the grocery store with the express intent of purchasing some potato salad from the deli and having it for dinner.
I sort of thought that delis had everything you could possibly want, and more. Certainly I thought a staple like potato salad would be offered. But, I was shocked and panicked to learn that SuperFresh did not have any potato salad prepared for me to purchase. After I canvassed the entire store, and then actually asked a deli employee, I decided fine, SuperFresh, you asked for it. I'll make the potato salad myself.
I made potato salad once before, in college. Joel says he doesn't recall, but I do. It tasted like shit (have you noticed that I have been making a concerted effort to swear less so that I can sound more "educated" and "ladylike"? But there is no other word to describe the flavor of this potato salad). I made some low fat recipe and a LOT of lemon juice was involved. This time I decided to just go with the low-fat mayo, because honestly I don't even like mayo. I only eat it in tuna, and potato salad. And for the love of all that is holy, I cannot tell the difference between real mayonnaise and the low-fat kind. I should be paid by Helmans to tell people that. It really is "Just 2 Good"!
So far I'm thinking of making this recipe, because it does not involve sour cream (which I do not have and "don't like", aka have never tried, and don't want to because I will probably love it and add another food that is terrible for you to my cravings list):
Summertime Potato Salad
INGREDIENTS:
- 4 to 5 cups cubed potatoes, cooked, drained
- 1/2 cup chopped celery
- 1/2 cup chopped red onion
- 3 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
- 2 tablespoons chopped sweet pickle
- 2 teaspoons sweet pickle juice
- 1/2 to 2/3 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 to 1 teaspoon prepared mustard
- 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
PREPARATION:
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir gently to combine. Refrigerate until serving time.
Serves 4 to 6.
Here is the problem that I often run into with recipes and cooking in general: they are not geared towards people who aren't experienced chefs. On more than one occasion I've been given strange looks when people ask me "can you follow a recipe" and I say "no". But the truth is, I can't. There is always some ingredient that I don't have, or there will be a need for something that I couldn't even identify in a lineup, like a jelly roll pan for instance. And then there are the recipes that just jump in somewhere in the middle and neglect to tell you some important steps, like this one. It seems to assume that I just have cooked, cubed potatoes and hard-cooked eggs lying around. Like most normal people (at least I think normal people do not have these items ready at hand), that is not the case. But luckily, I do know how to boil water, so I am going to try my hand at this anyway. Wish me luck. And if hard-cooked eggs are different from hard boiled eggs, please PLEASE let me know. Like, now.
I'm totally not kidding.
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