A Tale of Two Potato Salads, as guest written by Chef Vanessa Yeung of Aphrodite Cooks. May her delectable salad version bring your tastebuds and guests nothing but sheer joy this summer!
The recipe for this potato salad arose out of necessity. Summer barbeques in the Yeung family were feasts. As a kid I loved them. A lot of pleasure was taken in chowing down on meat from the grill, but the one thing that I felt that just did not sit with me was my dad’s recipe for potato salad.
My father’s love for things sweet and savory is a palate trait that has carried over to me and how I view a dish should be constructed. But sometimes he just took things a little too far. This was evident in his potato salad- a potato salad that he dubbed “Hong Kong style.” This was a potato salad that when I was in food product development for a salad company and pitched the concept to them, called it “a little radical for the average Canadian consumer.” My father had made his potato salad with boiled white potatoes, hard boiled eggs, Miracle Whip and yes dare I say it, a can of fruit cocktail (drained of course).
This odd combination did not sit well with me. Before I learned the basics of potato salad I used to pick out the fruit and just eat the potatoes. By the age of 12, I had a developed a basic knowledge of cooking potatoes and began experimenting with different ingredients for my current incarnation of potato salad. I immediately removed the offending fruit cocktail and swapped the Miracle Whip for real mayonnaise. Then I started adding eggs and diced celery.
As my food knowledge increased, I switched the bland and pasty white potato for the creamy Yukon Gold potato. As it stands now the recipe contains baby Yukon Gold Potatoes- a decision made for aesthetic reasons- pretty little tubers instead of mashed yellow paste. When I discovered herbs, life was made all the better. The delicate and thin leaves of dill provided that slight anise flavour that marries so well with the bland potato. Green onions added that subtle pungent taste that rounded out my creation. As time went on, some ingredients came and went, but never included a can of fruit cocktail.
Now at the age of 30, it has taken me almost 20 years to perfect this recipe as it stands today. My dislike for fruit cocktail with my potato salad still holds true. As of Mother’s Day this year, my father made his potato salad yet again and I still picked out the fruit!
Baby Yukon Gold Potato Salad with Dill (photo as pictured above by Imajing)
Recipe By: Vanessa Yeung
Serving Size: 8
Ingredients:
- 2 pounds Baby Yukon Gold Potatoes, halved
- 2 stalks green onion, sliced
- 2 tablespoons dill, chopped
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Method:
- Cook potatoes in salted boiling water until tender. A knife will go through easily.
- In a bowl combine the rest of the ingredients.
- When the potatoes are done drain and run under cold water.
- Mix all ingredients together. Taste for seasoning.
- Place in fridge to cool down.
- Serve cold.
Mary Luz Mejia - Colombian-born and Canadian raised. After earning an honours History degree from Queen's University and a Journalism post-grad diploma ...
