SereneCooking

In German class in the ninth grade, we had a German-foods potluck. The teacher, Mrs. Knapp (at least I think that was her name), handed out recipes and assigned us each a dish to cook and bring in. I got German potato salad. I had never HAD German potato salad. It was an epiphany! Such a perfect blend of flavors, and I wish I still had that recipe today.

These days, I call any vinegar-based (as opposed to mayo-based) potato salad "German potato salad", even when most people wouldn't really think of it as German potato salad, so keep that in mind if you make this recipe. It's very good, very easy, and VERY cheap, but it's not authentic in any way.

What I made:



German-ish Potato Salad

Dressing ingredients:

1 tsp dried minced onion
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp celery seed
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/2 tsp mustard powder

2 pounds russet potatoes, boiled, cooled, peeled, and cubed
1 roasted red pepper (I used one from a jar), diced

Place potatoes in a medium bowl. Place dressing ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir for a few seconds, then pour dressing over potatoes and mix well. Add peppers and mix. Chill until cold and serve.

Cost per serving:

4 servings. 20 cents a pound for the potatoes, 17 cents for the pepper (I bought a jar of 6 for 99 cents), and some tiny amount of money for the spices. Total per serving: 15 cents or so.

How we liked it:

someotherguy: "I liked it a lot. I'm not a super-huge fan of German-style potato salad, but it was pretty good."
serene: I would have preferred fresh onions and celery, but I didn't HAVE fresh onions and celery. This was really good for a pantry salad.

I had cream sauce left over from the shit-on-a-shingle experiment, and mentioned to James that I was trying to think what to do with it. He suggested creamed peas on toast, an old childhood favorite of his. We also had a salad and some homemade veggie barley soup.



( more photos )

The soup is an onion, a tomato, 2 carrots, 2 ribs of celery, a cup or two of sliced mushrooms, garlic, bay leaf, seasoned salt, a tiny bit of red miso, homemade veggie stock, and barley that had already been pressure-cooked before adding.