Slightly After July 4 recipe: Red, White, and Blue Potato Salad

Hello! Here we are - slightly late - with our July 4 Holiday Weekend Red, White and Blue Potato Salad recipe. You can modify it to be egg or dairy free, depending on your allergies - this year we tried it with sour cream instead of mayonnaise, and we've tried it with Greek yogurt and really liked it too! Different iterations give you slightly different tastes - some people hate sweet pickles, but growing up in the South, they were necessary to potato salad! My husband grew up in Cincinnati, so his version is vinegary, closer to the German origins. This is kind of a happy medium - missing mustard, including fennel instead of onion, and easily adaptable to tastes and allergies.

Red, White, and Blue Potato Salad
July 5, 2013

Note: The secret of this hearty potato salad is that it can be readily modified be either non-dairy or egg-free, depending on your dietary needs. This is done by replacing source cream or yogurt with a diary-free mayonnaise and leaving out the eggs.
Note: Add some zip to this dish by adding acidic ingredients, such as vinegar or pickle juice, as your diet and predilections allow.

Ingredients:
·         1 lb. whole red, white, and blue baby potatoes or small redskin potatoes, which work best.
·         2 Tbsp. table salt.
·         1/4 whole fennel (anise) blub, finely chopped.
·         1/2 cup whole sour cream, Greek yogurt, or mayonnaise--as tolerated.
·         Salt and sugar to taste.
·         (Optional) 2 hardboiled eggs, diced--if tolerated.
·         (Optional) 2 Tbsp. diced red onion--if tolerated.
·         (Optional) 2 medium Pickles, sweet or dill, diced--as tolerated.
·         (Optional) White vinegar or pickle juice, to taste--as tolerated.

Instructions:
1.       Place the potatoes in a medium pot, add two tablespoons of salt and enough cold water to cover potatoes with an inch of water. Bring potatoes to a boil and cook 10-15 minutes.
2.       After potatoes are tender enough that a knife can be easily inserted into the center of the potatoes, dump out the hot water and run cold water in the pot to cool down the potatoes.
Idea Use ice cubes to cool down the potatoes even faster.
3.       When cool, chop the potatoes into 1/4-1/2 inch cubes, which is 8 pieces per potato for baby potatoes. If you have trouble with insoluble fiber, peel the potatoes before you dice them.
4.       In a large bowl, combine the potato cubes and fennel, and optionally eggs, onions, or pickles. With a fork, work the sour cream, yogurt, mayonnaise, into the mixture to coat dry ingredients.
5.       Depending on the type of dressing used, you may need to add additional salt and sugar, to taste. Optionally, add a little pickle juice or white vinegar, to taste.
6.       Refrigerate for at least an hour in a closed container and serve cold.

Idea: When you take this or any potato salad to a picnic or if it must sit out, set the serving bowl into a bowl of ice. This helps keep the salad safe from spoiling for a little extra time.