Recipe - Mom's Potato Salad

School's out, the rain has stopped, and picnic time is here!  Our son, Dylan, graduated from high school last week, so to celebrate we had a party for him at a park in Layton, which just happened to be a good half-way meeting point for family members.  To make things easy for me, I sent out emails asking everyone to fill out an order form choosing what kind of sandwich they wanted from Jimmy Johns, which we picked up on the way there.  We also had chips, fresh fruit, drinks, and my homemade potato salad. For dessert, Dylan's sister, Jessame, made him a fabulous chocolate graduation cake, which was as delicious as it was cute.

I got off easy for this picnic with buying the pre-made sub sandwiches, but the Potato Salad  is always a labor of love.  Our family recipe features cooked carrots and peas, which adds both color and flavor, along with lots of little green onions and sliced boiled eggs on top.  Generations of cooks in our family have made potato salad this exact way, but as far as I know there has never been a written recipe . . . until now!  When I made it the other day, I painstakingly took down notes of amounts and measurements so I could pass it on to you.  Potato salad is one of those things everyone has their own favorite way of making, but if you're dissatisfied with yours or just looking for something new, give it a try!  Instructions and photos below.

Mom’s Potato Salad
Note: This is a huge salad for a party—enough to serve 20 people.   So if you’re making it just for the fam, you may want to cut the recipe in half.  My dad could live on this salad, so I always make extra for him.  Keep leftovers for up to five days. 

30 small to medium potatoes

10 large, whole carrots, peeled and sliced.  More if they are skinny.

1 bag Western Family Frozen Petite Peas

2 large or 3 small bunches Green Onions

1 jar Miracle Whip Salad Dressing

½ jar Best Foods or Kraft Mayonnaise

½ cup of whipping cream

1 teaspoon lemon juice

2 teaspoons or so salt

½ teaspoons black pepper

1 teaspoon sugar

2 Tablespoons yellow mustard (or so)

6 or 8 boiled eggs

Paprika and parsley for garnish

-Wash potatoes and place in large pot, with the largest ones on the bottom.  Add a tablespoon or so of salt and add just enough cold water to cover. 

-Bring to a boil, then turn to simmer until potatoes are just tender—do not overcook them, but make sure they are done.  I like to poke the biggest one right to the center with a toothpick.  If it’s done, then they all are. 

-While the potatoes are cooking, peel and slice the carrots.  Add a teaspoon or so of salt and fill the pan about a third of the way up with water.  Simmer until done, testing them just as you did the potatoes.  Run cold water over them so they’ll stop cooking, and drain well.  Put in fridge.

-Cook the frozen peas in a small amount of salted water, as with the carrots.  As soon as they aren’t frozen anymore and the water has just started to simmer, they are done.  Do not overcook--pretty much just long enough to thaw them and simmer only a minute.  (You can even just throw them on top of the carrots when the carrots are almost cooked and save dirtying another pan).  Drain well and cool in fridge with the carrots.

-Remove the potatoes from heat and pour off hot water so they won’t keep cooking.  Let cool until you can handle them but they are still warm.  This will help them peel easier.

-When they are peeled, place in fridge for at least an hour to cool thoroughly.  To avoid issues with food poisoning, do not ever add the dressing to potatoes that are still warm.  The potatoes need to be completely cold (and do not cool them on countertop except while they’re waiting to be peeled for 20 minutes or so.   Potatoes handled improperly, not mayo, is the cause of most potato salad related food poisoning).

-While the potatoes are chilling, wash, peel, and slice the green onions.

-Boil the eggs (simmer about ten minutes, then cool fast with cold water and place in fridge).

-Dice the potatoes and place back in fridge while you make the dressing.

-Whip the cream in a glass bowl.

-Mix Miracle Whip, Mayo, mustard, lemon, salt, pepper, and sugar into the cream.  Then take a chunk of potato, dip it in the dressing and taste it.  Adjust seasonings at this point to suit your tastes.  Also, instead of part mayo and part Miracle Whip, you can use all Miracle Whip, which is what my mom always did.  If you’re not a fan of Miracle Whip and use mayo for most things, you should know that although I personally dislike Miracle Whip for most purposes, for some reason it is perfect for potato salad--more flavorful and quite a bit lower in fat than mayonnaise.  The only reason I add part mayo instead making the whole thing with MW is that I usually have more mayo on hand at any given time.  So please feel free to use straight MW if you would like.   And remember that the seasonings amounts I listed are very much open to adjustment.  I normally don’t measure anything at all for this, but I did the other day just to give you an idea of amounts.  In addition, since the size of the potatoes vary somewhat each time you make it, just add more or less dressing as needed.  You don’t want it to either be too dry or have too much dressing.

-Fold into potatoes, green onions, carrots, and peas.  I usually add the peas after everything else is in, so they don't get mushed, but in this photo it shows them all together because I forgot.  See how pretty and bright the peas and carrots are?

-Slice your boiled eggs and arrange across the top.  Sprinkle lightly with Paprika and decorate with parsley springs if desired.  I have an egg slicer that makes my slices uniform, but you can do it with a paring knife.