recipe: potato salad, as my mother made it

The weather is getting warmer and my mind drifted to sunnier recipes like potato salad. I have had potato salad in restaurants and from a supermarket, but I have never liked them. The recipe my mother used (or created) is very simple and yet tastes a lot better in my opinion. I hope you too will like it.

Today i made some potato salad, so I will tell you the ingredients and portions for that. It's delish and should be about 4-6 servings.

3 good-sized potatoes, Russet or Yukon Gold are good. I haven't tried others.

1 stalk of celery

1 sweet pickle

1/2 medium sweet onion

4 large eggs

salt

pepper (I use the grinder, so it's a very fresh sharp pepper zing)

mayonnaise (or Kraft MiracleWhip if you prefer)

yellow mustard (you could try brown, but I can't guarantee success)

Preparing some ingredients:

1. Potatoes: peel them, cut out any bad spots, and wash off any dirt. Set them aside in a bowl.

2. Celery: clean, wash, dice it, and put aside in another bowl.

3. Sweet pickle: cut off the ends, then finely dice the rest, and add it to the bowl with celery.

4. Onion: cut half an onion, remove peel of the part you intend to use, finely dice, and add to the bowl with celery and pickle.

Begin cooking some things:

Note: Cooking the eggs and potatoes can be done simultaneously. The potatoes won't take as long, so there won't be a problem when you have to work with these later.

5. Eggs: Add 4 to a pot with warm/hot water. After they have warmed a bit, begin heating them to a boil. They'll be hard after about 11 minutes of boiling.

    Remove, drain off the hot water, move the eggs to another pot with cold water and ice cubes. Let them cool a while.

6. Potatoes: dice them. Some people like them in small dices. I prefer a variety of sizes, but it doesn't much matter. Make yourself happy.

    Toss 'em in a pot of water and boil on medium boil. Watch them carefully as you don't want them to over-cook and become mushy.

    Remove them when a knife point or fork tyne goes in easily, but without mashing that piece of potato. They must be chewable, but not mushy.

    Drain all the water and put them to the side. You can also leave them covered to absorb the steam. Hopefully you will be ready to use the potatoes when the steam has all been absorbed.

    A perfect piece of potato will be a bit rough around the edges when you toss it with a spoon. That indicates it's soft enough for our purposes. The rough edges will help hold mayonnaise.

    Don't worry if it doesn't seem perfect at this moment. Once you start mixing ingredients if can still be perfect.

So, we have the ingredients, the cooking, and now they need to be mixed properly!

7. Mayonnaise: In a good-sized mixing bowl, use a large mixing spoon to add some mayonnaise. Don't add too much. You can always add more later, but removing "too much" isn't easy.

8. Mustard: In that same mixing bowl add some mustard to the mayonnaise and stir it to check the color. It should be a light yellow throughout. Check for taste and suit yourself.

9. Potatoes: Add the diced potatoes and toss a little to coat the potatoes with the mayonnaise/mustard mix.

10. Veggies: Add some of the diced onion/pickle/celery mix. don't add it all at once. Only add a little and when you have precisely the amount you want you can toss out the rest.

    I find that too much pickle can ruin the taste and forgetting celery also kills it. Some people don't like or can't handle onion, so that's okay to 'forget'.

11. Okay, so we have the potatoes and mayo coating and other veggies tossed together. Now add some salt and pepper to taste. Add a bit, toss, taste a bit, repeat as needed.

    Don't add a lot as your guests may have different preferences.

12. Finally, peel each boiled egg and slice or dice (as you prefer). Mix some of the diced egg into the mixing bowl ingredients.
    Eventually, move your mixed ingredients to a serving dish and put the last sliced egg (or two) on top.

    I find that a teaspoon is very helpful for removing boiled egg shell. Just crack is on a counter-top a couple of places and then use the spoon to remove shell.

If you like you can sprinkle some paprika on top for the appearance you want.

Ideally, the amount of salt and pepper should be a bit on the light side, so each person served who wants more can add it to their taste.

Et voila !