Party Potato Salad

I love this potato salad.  It's what I've eaten all my life; my mom always made it like this.  I normally make it only for parties and celebrations.  This recipe will feed 15 - 20 people. This is always good for those holidays that call for picnic fare.



The first thing you want to do is get your eggs and potatoes cooking.   They need to cool before you mix everything together so get these done first.

I cut the potatoes into cubes that are roughly 1 inch.  Carefully drop them in boiling water that has been salted with a good Tbsp. of salt.  You want your potatoes to come out mildly salted.

Once the water returns to a boil, lower heat and simmer until they are just fork tender. Start checking them after about 7 minutes and often after that. You don't want them to turn to mush.



Drain in a large colander.  I like to, lightly and politely, spray the drained potatoes with cold water.  Don't let the water come out of the sprayer at full force; your potatoes are tender now and you want them to retain their shape.  Let them stay in the colander to completely cool off.



Once your eggs are done, drain and re-fill pan with cold water and make an ice bath.


 
While the potatoes and eggs are cooking and cooling, dice up the rest of your ingredients.  I use Claussen Kosher Dills; the best in my opinion.  You will find these refrigerated, not shelved on the inside aisles.  I always buy the Sandwich Slices.  They are always ready to go on a burger or sandwich and when you use them in a recipe they're ready to be diced up.

My dice are between 1/4 to 1/2 inch.

Same with your red onion; dice between 1/4 and 1/2 inch.

Using the egg slicer is the quickest way to get these diced up.  Then you can take the knife to them to chop them up a little more.  It's a good practice, in salad or soups, to try to have all of your components close to the same size.


Pour your potatoes into a large bowl and add the pickles, onions and egg.

These will be adding the moisture to your salad.  When you add your moisture, start with the amounts recommended in the recipe and if you like more mayo, add it.  Or, if you like a little bit more of a bite from the mustard, add a little more.

Your hands are your best tools to mix up your potato salad without making mincemeat of your tender potatoes.  I always wear these.  These are my best friends.  You can scoop down and get big handfuls and gently fold everything in.  I simply can't do without these in my kitchen.

Cover your serving bowl tightly with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator over night.  It is important to have your salad cooled before wrapping it up, otherwise you'll get condensation dripping into your salad.

Party Potato Salad

Ingredients:
1 dozen eggs
5 pounds russet potatoes

1 red onion, medium sized
1 - 12 ounce jar Claussen Kosher Dills - Sandwich Slices
1/2 cup pickle juice
1/2 cup Hellmann's or Best Foods Mayonnaise
1 Tbsp. classic yellow mustard
Salt and pepper to taste

 Method:
Boil, cool and peel eggs.

Peel potatoes and cut into 1 to 1-1/2" pieces.  Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Add the potatoes.  When water returns to a boil reduce heat and simmer until the potatoes are just fork tender.  Check after 7 minutes for doneness.  You don't want the potatoes to become mushy. Drain the potatoes into a large colander and lightly rinse with cold water.

As the potatoes are cooling chop eggs, onion and pickles into 1/4" to 1/2" dice. Set aside.

In a small mixing bowl combine the pickle juice, Hellmann's and mustard.

When potatoes are cooled, place in a large mixing bowl and gently fold in the onion, pickles and eggs until just combined.  Preferably with your hands, gently mix in your mayonnaise mixture.  Make any additions (mayonnaise, pickle juice, mustard) to your liking and salt and pepper to taste.  

When the potato salad is completely cooled, cover with plastice wrap and refrigerate until very cold. 

Cleaning Up an Old Le Creuset Dutch Oven

I found this little gem at an estate sale.  It's an older 1 quart Le Creuset Dutch Oven.  You can tell it is older by the handle on the lid. 

Newer lids have the black handle

 

The older Dutch ovens were marked on the bottom of the pots and the undersides of the lids as to what size they were.  "A" indicates this is a 1 quart.

 I bought it for only $11 but it was really nasty on the inside.  Nasty dirty, but there were no huge chunks out of the bottom. Since it was so cheap I thought I'd buy it and try to get it back to a usable state.

First order of business was getting off the "old nasty". I soaked it in hot sudsy water; I use Dawn dish washing soap.

Then gave it a good scrub. This is a good scrub pad to use on your enameled cast iron.  You don't want to use an SOS - type product or abrasive cleaners.

This was the next step.  I poured several inches of Hydrogen Peroxide into the pot and 1 Tbsp. of baking soda.  

I brought it to a boil then lowered the heat, put the lid on and simmered for 15 minutes.  I let the mixture cool down and then used the Dobie pad to really scrub the inside.  I used a good amount of elbow grease on the grimey parts.

This is how it turned out.  Not bad.  Got the sticky gunk out of it but it still was not as clean as I would want in order for me to cook in it.

 The final step was a good soak in OxiClean.

Four cups water and a half scoop of the powder (scoop comes with the OxiClean) .  Stir around every once in a while to dissolve and let sit for about 6 hours on the counter top.

After one more cleaning in hot sudsy water here is what I have!  All ready to use! Now there is no reason to spend $140.00 on a new one (smiling to myself)