Potato Salad

I stumbled on this post from 3 years ago for Brooke's cheese, spinach, and bacon stuffed mushroom caps (click here for the recipe) mentioning that I would post my potato salad recipe and I was positive I did...but I can't find it and it's so so good that even if I did post it and am just not seeing it, it's worth a repeat. I adapted it from The New Basics Cookbook and have been making it this way for years.

Because I've made it so many times I don't measure any of the ingredients - but I can easily tell you how to make it. All the measurements will depend on how many potatoes you start with, you will just eyeball everything. I keep it simple, the original recipe calls for onions and cucumbers but I don't add them. This is pretty standard potato salad but what makes it different is adding olive oil, vinegar, and coarse salt to the potatoes while they are still hot after boiling them; after it cools I add the remaining ingredients.

Boil whole potatoes until they are just fork tender, you don't want them too soft. I like the skins so I don't peel but you can if you want. Drain, break into rough pieces in a big bowl, drizzle with olive oil and apple cider vinegar, sprinkle with coarse salt and toss together. Let cool completely, then stir in finely diced celery; add mayonnaise and dijon mustard to taste, stir until the potatoes are coated. If the potato pieces are too big at this point I break them up with a fork - usually all the stirring and adding ingredients causes the potatoes to break apart on their own. Add chopped hard boiled eggs, gently stir to incorporate, add more mayo if it needs it, then season with salt and pepper to taste. If I have flat Italian parsley on hand I usually add some, it's fine without it.

I made it this morning for dinner later and tried to pay attention to amounts to give you an idea - I boiled 7 medium to large red skin potatoes, drizzled with about 1/4 cup olive oil and 2 Tablespoons vinegar, and about 1 teaspoon coarse salt. I chopped about 1/2 cup celery in very small pieces. Used 1/2 cup plain yogurt and 1/2 cup light mayo, 2 Tablespoons dijon. 4 chopped hard boiled eggs. It needed a bit more mayo once everything was mixed together, another big spoonful.