“From the SCCC Kitchen” offers tastes from Schenectady County Community College’s culinary arts program. Today, educational aide Lisa Valentine prepares a potato salad that’s full of color and crunch.
The salad days for potatoes may be fading. With summer’s doom assured, people will be scalloping, mashing and baking for cooler days and nights of autumn.
Lisa Valentine hopes home chefs will try one more potato salad recipe before leaves and snowflakes are in the air.
“It’s my own little concoction,” she said. “I needed to make some potato salad for my brother-in-law’s house and I didn’t have the eggs and the normal stuff for a potato salad. I said, ‘Let me try this out,’ and I cut up some cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, scallions, cilantro and I put in a little Sriracha — it’s an Asian hot sauce — to give it a little zing. And lemon juice, salt and pepper.”
Relatives fell in love with the recipe, so now Valentine always has to bring over a bowl full of her special blend at family gatherings.
While the salad includes plenty of garden representatives, celery — often a staple when potatoes meet mayonnaise — is not part of the bunch. The cucumbers and peppers provide the same crunch and a different flavor.
“You can cut back on the mayo even and make it a little bit healthier,” Valentine said.
Lisa’s Potato Salad
3 pounds potatoes, diced
1⁄2 cucumber, diced small
1⁄2 bell pepper, diced small
2 pieces roasted red peppers, diced small
1⁄4 onion, diced small
1 teaspoon cilantro, finely chopped
2⁄3 cup mayonnaise
Sriracha sauce, to taste (1⁄4 to 1⁄2 teaspoon recommended)
1 teaspoon lemon juice or vinegar
Salt and pepper, to taste
Wash and peel potatoes. Dice and cook until fork tender (not mushy). When done, rinse in cold water.
After potatoes are cooled, mix all ingredients with potatoes and mix well. Taste and adjust.
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Categories: Food, Life and Arts
