Creamy Potato Salad
A Tasty Summer Side Dish
Michael Schlow, chef/owner of Alta Strada, shares a recipe for creamy potato salad. It can be served warm or cold, but for for your summer bbq, serve it well-chilled. This is a tasty side dish to your outdoor gathering.
Ingredients
Cooking Directions
Boil the potatoes in plenty of salted water roughly 20 minutes, or until tender. Meanwhile, softly poach the eggs until the whites are firm but the yolks are still fairly runny, about 3 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
Drain the potatoes and combine while still hot with the eggs, chipotle pepper, adobo sauce, scallions, red onion, bacon, carrot, olive oil, and vinegar. (The eggs will break up on their own as the salad is tossed.)
Cool for 10 to 15 minutes, then stir in the mayonnaise. The salad can be prepared to this point a couple of hours ahead of serving. Right before serving, add the parsley, salt, and pepper, and mix well. Taste and adjust the seasoning. If the salad seems dry, add a bit more oil, mayonnaise, or vinegar, depending on your taste. Serve.
Note: Without question eggs are one of the hardest items to cook perfectly. I am forever in awe of talented short-order cooks who field rapid-fire strings of breakfast tickets in a busy diner. But the thought of poaching eggs needn't stop you in your tracks. Here's how: Fill a small sauce pot three-quarters full with water. Bring it to a boil, add 2 capfuls of white vinegar, and lower the heat to a simmer. Carefully crack the eggs directly into the water and simmer for 3 minutes for soft-poached. Remove the eggs with a slotted spoon to drain the excess water and serve.
Lardons are delicious little pieces of smoked bacon, cut thicker than your average store-bought bacon. To make them, buy slab bacon and cut it yourself into 1/4-inch-thick slices, then cut the slices into 1/2-inch pieces. Put the slices in a sauté pan over high heat without any additional oil or liquid. Once the bacon starts to render, turn the heat to low and begin pouring the fat off. Continue rendering and pouring the fat off for 10 to 15 minutes, until the bacon is almost cooked, then add 2 tablespoons water to the pan. Simmer, adding more water if it boils away before the bacon if fully cooked. When the bacon is evenly browned, raise the heat to medium-high and allow any remaining water to reduce until it has all evaporated.
*Recipe courtesy of Michael Schlow's "It's About Time."
