What I did not inherit from my mother:

her green thumb

What I did:

her very low tolerance for mayonnaise

My mother’s potato salad has taken on varying forms over the years, but rarely did they include mayonnaise in the description. She’s also a woman whose many recipes that she is “known” for aren’t exactly written down. She throws things in and tastes her way through her summer classics like her tabbouleh salad, her bean salad, corn & peppers, and blackberry sauce.

Her potato salad is no different and this July 4th’s variation was simply every herb she had growing in the garden and some lemon juice and oil. The other trick she had up her sleeve was this: I noticed that the potatoes were cooking on the stove for what seemed like an awfully long time. I thought she had forgotten about them but after I reminded her about them, she rather lackadaisically (IMO) got off the couch and ran them under cold water. She then chopped them up carefully and folded them into the other ingredients carefully, tasted her way through it carefully, and then threw it into the fridge to meld overnight for the party the next day. From my point of view, forgetting about the potatoes seemed now very, very on purpose.

By any other standards, she for sure overcooked her potatoes, but for the sake of the recipe, I fully believe she gets away with the lack of mayo because of this. The potatoes' mushy texture creates a creaminess you would not have otherwise. You just have to be careful with mixing it together so you don’t end up with mashed potatoes.

She’s pretty genius, my mother...which I hope I inherited from her too…

Herby Potato Salad

Ingredients:

2 pounds yukon gold potatoes

2 garlic scapes, sliced small

1 tablespoon finely chopped chives

1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley

1 tablespoon finely chopped dill

juice of one lemon

¼ cup olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

In a large pot, cover the potatoes with cold water and over high heat bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer, and cook potatoes until very soft when pierced with a fork. Drain the potatoes and rinse under cold running water for a few minutes. Set aside.

Throw all your chopped herbs together in a large bowl. Cut the potatoes into 1 inch chunks and while they’re still a touch warm on the inside, toss them together very gently with the herbs, lemon juice, olive oil and seasoning. Put in fridge to chill for a few hours or overnight. Serve cold.

Like most picnic salads, potato salad is better the next day. And according to my cousin Evelyn, tossing it while warm allows for the flavors to really integrate into the potato chunks and because Evelyn’s potato salad is hella awesome, I have to believe her.

Serve 6 to 8