Regular Potato Salad for two

potato salad

4 yukon gold potatoes peeled and cut in half
boil until soft (10 minutes or longer, poke with knife)
rest in cold water, then cut to desired thickness
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 green onions, sliced

Dressing:
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp mustard
1-2 tsp apple cider vinegar
sprinkle of paprika (1/8 – 1/4 tsp?)
salt pepper

enhancements: hard boiled egg, and black olives might have been good. Other potato types would have been fine.

I’ve never made traditional American potato salad, but we were having barbecue chicken sandwiches, and it seemed like a perfect compliment. Kim and Alec don’t like mustard, and Jude is picky, so I figured I would be the only one eating it – whichis fine with me because I love potatoes and the basic mechanics of potato salad regardless of type! And I’m always curious how quickly one can throw together small simple salads. When I think of making potato salad, my childhood associations turn it into some colossal event that only happens for planned occasions, but I know from watching shows like “Chopped” that most things can come together more simply and quickly than anticipated with a little know how. So I gave it a try and it was great!

Pasta Salad with leftover bowties

Jude wanted pasta with butter for dinner. Not a wide selection noodles given our quarantine conditions, but we had some bowties in the cupboard. They’d been there awhile so I emptied the bag in the pot, figuring I could use any leftovers to make a salad. Here’s what I threw together.

Pasta Salad with leftover bowties:

1 stick celery, diced
handful of cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 green onion, sliced
15 kalamata olives, pitted
1 small garlic clove, chopped
salt & pepper
2 Tbl olive oil
1/2 Tbl balsamic pear vinegar
1/2 Tbl red wine vinegar

It was fantastic! It was enough for two good servings. All the amounts were estimated on the fly. Things that might have been good: Fresh Basil, capers, grated Parm or Romano.