Last time, pasta salad. This time, a spicy potato salad, to be followed next time by a good coleslaw. All of these, really, can be served year round, but in the summer you want to aim to live in make-ahead heaven as much as possible. Just supplement them with something easy breezy —  grilled hamburgers, fish, whatever you can face when it’s a thousand degrees — and you’ll be way ahead of the game.

I used to know someone who lived along the Connecticut shore in the days when the Post Road still had a few farmstands scattered up and down it. One we liked parlayed the stand into a store that also sold flowers — I used to buy big bunches of fresh baby’s breath — and take-out food. They made a potato salad that wasn’t the usual egg/potato/mayo combo, it was different and very good. The single store became three and, eventually, success caught the eye of a take-out chain. The original owners sold out, but I’m thinking they took the details of their potato salad with them: it was never the same, or as good, and you definitely weren’t getting what you paid for. Fortunately, with the idea that I was only a visitor to that area and might have to rely on myself to produce it at some point, I had written down the visible ingredients and guessed at the rest well enough to figure out a good version. Everybody who likes a bit of spice likes this, it’s popular and in demand at my house.

Spicy Potato Salad
Serves 10, keeps several days in the refrigerator if there are leftovers

3 and 1/2 lbs. new potatoes — red, yellow, or a mixture. I use both.
1/2 large purple onion, chopped
Scallions, trimmed and tailed, sliced thinly. An amount equal to the amount of purple onion.
1 or 2 teaspoons caraway seed, to your taste. I use two.
2 large limes. Limes can be juicy or dry, so you might buy extra in case. Sometimes I use all the juice, but if they’re very juicy I might use less. Taste and add more if needed, you can always squeeze some extra on at the end.
I cup Hellman’s full fat mayonnaise. Don’t use that low-fat rubbish, it doesn’t taste or behave the same when mixed in.
1 tsp. each kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
A good handful of cilantro, chopped medium fine. You might want to have this in a bowl for people to add themselves, not everyone likes it. If the salad is going to be in the fridge for a few days, too, it will look better and taste fresher if the cilantro isn’t mixed in at the start.
* A healthy spoonful of finely chopped habanero peppers in oil, see below. The original recipe did not have this.
(A chopped tomato.) I don’t use this but it was in the original salad, probably to add color. Your choice.

Simmer the scrubbed potatoes until easily pierced with a sharp knife blade. Don’t overcook or the skins will fall off. Drain. Let cool for about 15 minutes, then cut in halves. If your new potatoes aren’t so new, i.e., if they’re largish, you might want to cut them into smaller pieces. Combine all the other ingredients while the potatoes cook. Add them to the still warmish potatoes, and toss gently. As always, the best tool to use to mix tender ingredients is your washed hand, but up to you. Chill for several hours or overnight.

*Very hot peppers are available on a schedule known only to God and to produce department managers. They’re not always there when you want them, and at my house we want them pretty much year round. Used judiciously, and I do mean judiciously, the zing they add jazzes up the otherwise dull and bland. I found a good and very easy way to preserve them on a website called thebossykitchen.com. I haven’t tried anything else on that site, but this formula for peppers in vinegar is a winner, and is found under Romanian recipes. Fun to read, too, the author doubles as an exasperated dictator. The peppers keep forever, and can be removed a few at a time, chopped and put in a jar with a neutral olive oil (I like Berio) when you’re ready to use them. Things spoil more quickly in oil than in vinegar, so keep any leftover in the freezer, it will thaw quickly enough when you need it. I am willing to endure a few hours with tingling fingertips after chopping the peppers, plastic gloves make it much harder to mince finely and tend to get cut anyway, but up to you. Don’t touch your eyes, etc., with pepper fingers or you’ll be sorry. You can pass this separately for the faint of heart, rather than adding it directly to the salad. An alternative to this might be to buy a jar of pickled jalapeños at the supermarket and mince them. Not as pretty as the red habaneros, but hotter than fresh jalapeños, which you should still add, for crunch.

This past Monday, July 18, would have been my father’s 100th birthday. Hi Dad.

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Written by
Pamela Osborne