It's All About the Pickles

I am not a fan of onions.  Bermuda, pearl, cipollini, vidalia, red, scallions - how I loathe them.  But as I learned to cook, I realized they were sometimes required for complex flavors that I loved, so I have learned to incorporate the occasional mellow-flavored into a meal (caramelized or chopped so fine they might as well have been juiced).  I still cannot imagine eating them raw and I do try to avoid them when I can (especially if they overpower a dish) and that is why, for a long time, I avoided potato salad.  

Potato salad purchased at a store is pretty much guaranteed to have onions in it (sometimes even red ones - my least favorite).  Most potato salad recipes call for at least scallions, if not two kinds of onion, and most people I know prefer to have onions in it because it adds a lot of flavor.

I am happy to say that I recently found a recipe online that, once converted by my anti-onionness, can now be proclaimed The Ultimate Onion Haters' Potato Salad.  Ahem.  I ignored the not-very-savory-looking photo on the Taste of Home page and concentrated on the ingredients; eliminating what I wouldn't use (or didn't have) and adding more of what I would use (or did have).  What interested me in this particular recipe were the use of eggs and pickles.  The eggs because I liked the idea of combining egg salad with potato salad.  The dill pickles because they add a nice zesty flavor that keeps you from missing the onions (for those of you who enjoy them).



Ingredients:
3 pounds of your favorite potato (I used russets, skin on), boiled and chopped
7 hard-cooked eggs, chopped (I boiled the potatoes and eggs together, taking the eggs out early, but you certainly don't have to)
5 medium dill pickles, chopped
1 cup mayonnaise (not Miracle Whip)
5 teaspoons prepared mustard (I used Nathan's Original Coney Island Deli Mustard)
1/4 cup dill pickle juice
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Salt and Pepper, to taste


Optional:
2 celery ribs, chopped (for extra crunch without changing the flavor too much, with the eggs in there, this is recommended)
Paprika (if you want to make it a deviled-egg potato salad - I can't wait to make this version!)
Hot sauce (try not to go too vinegar-y, since the pickles will already make it very tangy)


Boil the eggs and potatoes to whatever firmness or softness you please.  I like my hard-boiled eggs to be very firm (easier to cut, and hold together in the salad better) and my potatoes to not be too tender (same idea and don't forget that they'll keep cooking a bit once they're out of the pot).  Allow both to thoroughly cool.


Mix the mayo, mustard and black pepper together before adding it to the eggs and potatoes.  This will allow for an even coating.  If you want to add more mayo, do it before adding the pickle juice (which, added to a dollop of mayo, will produce mayo-blobs and no one wants that), but I don't recommend adding more than another 1/2 a cup of mayo.  Once it's coated to your liking, add the chopped pickles and the pickle juice.  Mix well before seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.  


You can eat the salad right away, but leaving it in the fridge for at least an hour (I like to let them hang out altogether overnight) will help the flavors marry.

This recipe brought to you by the Anti-Onion Brigade.