Summer Potato Salad a local cook’s masterpiece
The potatoes must be mashed. The mayo must be real.
When it comes to Summer Potato Salad, these are the rules – at least they are for Laura Cummings, who builds her signature dish around the two tenets. She’s experimented with other ingredients – chives, dill – but the mashed potatoes and real mayonnaise endure.
No other “white condiment” will do for her summertime specialty. And, “I just don’t like big chunks of potato,” she explained. “I’m funny.”
Creamy and tangy with a hint of dill pickle, her recipe is adapted from the Original Potato Salad from Best Foods as well as her mother’s own church potluck potato salad, which – at the request of her now-grown children – also featured mashed potatoes.
“I can remember the chunks of pickle, onion and celery floating in the creamy mashed potatoes,” Cummings wrote in her “In the Kitchen With” submission, noting, “I always went back for seconds.”
A partner in the forthcoming Sip Wine Room in north Spokane, Cummings has fine-tuned her recipe throughout the years. It’s a staple at summer picnics, potlucks and parties, and often requested by friends and family members.
“I have been told that whenever there is a get-together that involves food, I am to bring my potato salad – and extra for leaving,” said Cummings, 55.
While many potato salad recipes call for mustard, that’s something Cummings leaves out. Her secret ingredient is a dry mix – Johnny’s Garlic Spread & Seasoning – which Cummings adds to the water as she boils the potatoes. She’s also particular about the pickles: Nalley’s Elites Garlic, Dill & Onion Petites.
“It has to be these guys,” she said. “There’s garlic and dill in there. Whatever comes out is what I chop up.”
She’s a fan of the brininess. “I don’t have a sweet tooth,” she said, noting the salad is even more flavorful a day after it’s made.
“Potatoes are like a sponge,” she said. “They’re just a vehicle for all that good stuff. They’re a delivery system.”
Cummings never tires of making her signature dish.
“I just like it when people ask for the same thing,” she said. “To this day, I prefer this style of potato salad over the chunky potato kind; food preferences that are formed early in childhood are hard to undo.”
Still, it sometimes takes a taste or two for first-timers to warm up to the texture of her variation.
“Whenever I tell people about the way I make my salad, they are at first skeptical,” Cummings said. “But, once they taste it, they are fans.”
Summer Potato Salad
From Laura Cummings of Chattaroy
2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes (5 to 6 medium), peeled and cut into 3/4-inch chunks
2 tablespoons Johnny’s Garlic Spread & Seasoning
1 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons dill pickle juice
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup chopped dill pickle, such as Nalley’s Elites Garlic, Dill & Onion Petites
3 hard-cooked eggs
1 cup thinly sliced celery
1 cup chopped red onion
Celery leaves, for garnish (optional)
Cover potatoes with water in large stockpot; sprinkle water liberally with Johnny’s Garlic Seasoning; bring to boil over medium-high heat.
Reduce heat to low and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and cool slightly. Rough mash with potato masher to remove any chunks.
Combine mayonnaise, pickle juice, salt, sugar and pepper in large bowl. Add potatoes, and mix thoroughly to combine. Stir in pickles, then slice or chop eggs and add them to the potato mixture. Add celery and onion, toss gently. Transfer to serving bowl. Garnish with celery leaves, if desired.
Serve chilled or at room temperature.