Egg Pickle Potato Salad Plus - Food Network Magazine Cookbook

 I am wondering if I ever posted a potato salad recipe.  I did a search and it brought up all kind of potato recipes but no salad.  It is hard to believe, somewhere along the line, I had not made one to post.  Then again, I rarely make potato salad.  I appreciate potatoes hot and as a result, a salad of potatoes doesn't usually appeal unless it is made of sweet potatoes.

I am not sure, what got into me, but I made a potato salad from the Food Network Magazine 1,000 Easy Recipes.  I was looking through the book which is pure fun to do. Actually, I was sitting in the dentist chair, midstream of a root canal and whenever the dentist left, I checked out pages of the book which is where I saw the salad recipe.  I guess, it was in my subconscious and came out, when making dinner.

You should not have to go through a root canal to look at this book.  Curl up in a chair and be prepared for an onslaught of ideas.  There were 41 potato salad recipes on about six pages.  The recipes are brief and leave much to the cook, although I don't think this is intentional.  I found that if you did not know the meaning of certain words, you were left in the dark.  

It is unusual, in that a full recipe takes a few lines of print and at times,  amounts are not included.  I made a casserole that gave no measurements for the ingredients except for 3 cups of shredded cheddar.  Everything else was left up to the reader.  Would a new cook be able to make that recipe?  I doubt it.

On the flip side, I found this to be a delightful book, an opportunity to mix and match recipes, taking the best elements of a few and concocting your own creation.  If one wanted to follow the recipes, it is easy, if you are acquainted with the terms.  "Boil, peel and cube 2 pounds of russets,"  That is the first line of my potato salad recipe.  I do know how long it takes to boil a potato and I decided to cube it before cooking.  I also peeled it first although the order here is to boil, peel and cube which I would guess is the order, the cook had in mind.  If you know what a russet, all is fine.  If not, chances are the recipe gets ignored.  I used Idahoes, anyway.

These are Food Network recipes so there is an interest in what ingredients are included and how it is presented.  I had a great time, going through the book and found lots of recipes to make, although,  I might choose another source with more complete directions, for some of them.

Egg-Pickle Potato Salad (as printed in book)

"Boil, peel and cube 2 pounds russet potatoes; toss with 2 tablespoons cider vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Mix 2 cups mayonnaise, 2 finely chopped scallions, 1 finely chopped celery stalk, 3 chopped hard boiled eggs, 1/2 cup finely chopped red pepper, 1/4 cup diced pickles with 1 tablespoon of pickle juice and1 tablespoon each Dijon mustard, 1 teaspoon sugar, and salt. Toss with the potatoes."

My notes:  I put the eggs through a ricer and it sprinkled through the potatoes perfectly.  

I cut the mayo to a little more than 1 cup and used Canola mayo.

I added one tablespoon of curried sauce and marinade, something I spotted in the food store, last week and couldn't resist getting.

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