Simple Potato Salad

As the days grow hotter I try to avoid turning on my oven and instead stick with meals that can be prepared either entirely without heat (hooray for sandwiches!) or with minimal stove-top cooking. I love potato salad because it can be re-purposed into upcoming meals in so many ways. You can mix it with scrambled eggs for brunch, mash it with a little paprika and cumin and serve it with grilled chicken, chop some hard boiled eggs and dill pickles for a classic take on the potato salad, throw it in a wrap with salsa, beans, and veggies, or even eat it the same way as you prepared it for a couple days, it's tasty as is. This particular potato salad is mayo-free, too, which allows you to add other sauces later on without worrying about over-doing the sauciness (think barbeque sauce, salsa, tzaziki, hummus, etc.). That's right. This potato salad not only sets you up with a delicious side for this meal, but other meals to come as well.  And on hot summer nights, it's always a bonus to have dinner ready to grab straight from the fridge. Yep. It's pretty great.

The recipe I used is this German Potato Salad recipe from Bon Appétit. Sometimes I like only the bare bones of a recipe, and other times I come across a gem like this and I stick close to the original. The only deviations I made from the original recipe are as follows:

• I skipped the toasted caraway seeds because I do not have any on hand
• I only used 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh dill. I prepped the called-for 2 tablespoons of dill, mixed 1 tablespoon into the potatoes and tasted it and I felt that that was plenty "dilly". Obviously everyone has their own preferences, so I encourage you to make your own decisions (I hope this is already standard practice for you!). 

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds small waxy potatoes, halved or quartered to even size (I used golden baby potatoes)
• 1/4 cup olive oil  (If you have an infused olive oil such as garlic or oregano this would be a good time to try it!)
• 1/2 chopped yellow onion
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• Salt & Pepper to taste (I used 1/2 tsp smoked salt and 1 tsp cracked pepper)
• 4 scallions (green onions), sliced thinly
• 1+ tablespoons fresh chopped dill

Directions:

1. Place the potatoes in a large pot and cover with cold salted water. Cook until fork tender, roughly 20 minutes. Drain the potatoes and set aside in a large bowl. 
2. Meanwhile, heat a medium-size pan over medium heat. Add the oil, then the chopped onion. Cook until onions are translucent and slightly golden, about 5-8 minutes. 
3. Remove the pan from the heat and add the vinegar, then toss in the potatoes. Add the salt, pepper, scallions, and dill, mix gently with a large spoon until all potatoes are evenly coated.You can serve this warm, or cover and refrigerate up to 3 days.