Kitchen Korner: Making dad’s potato salad

By Jayne Sherry

Hello, my name is Jayne and this is my Kitchen Korner!

I am a cook at the Chancery (Diocese of Davenport headquarters) and enjoy preparing main dishes, salads and desserts for the retired clergy and staff here.

My love for cooking began at an early age with my father. He was my teacher, mentor, creative genius, all around social butterfly and the best dad a girl could have. I was 6 when I started helping him make appetizers for the many parties my parents hosted at our home. Homemade bleu cheese dip wrapped in thinly sliced salami was one of the first I made by myself. I also remember stirring my dad’s homemade spaghetti sauce on the stove made with tomatoes from our garden.

My dad loved making his homemade dill pickles every summer. We would drive up north to get fresh pickling cucumbers, dill and garlic to make “Bill’s Dills.” It was just dad and me driving through beautiful Wisconsin countryside to get the produce we needed. We would get bushel barrels of cucumbers, fresh dill and garlic. On our way home we would stop at a small café and have lunch. We would sit outside on picnic tables and have fresh sandwiches, burgers, BBQ and salads. I can still smell the burgers cooking on the grill, roasted corn on the cob smothered in butter and newly mown grass. If I close my eyes on a warm summer day I am transported back there.

So, that’s just a little about me. I’ll share more stories of my childhood and cooking experiences with you in the future and hopefully we will get to know each other! I’ll also try to add in some helpful cooking and home recipes!

Since spring/summer has finally arrived, so has grilling season! One of my favorite side dishes that my children and I enjoy is my dad’s potato salad. It is always a huge hit any time I make it.

Following is the recipe and I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:
8-10 small to medium Red Skinned potatoes with skins on. You want these to be uniform in size
5 hard cooked eggs peeled and coarsely chopped
1 medium sized yellow or sweet onion diced
3 stalks celery diced
2 Tbsp dill pickle relish
3-4 Tbsp Italian dressing
Hellmans mayo (I use light but you can use regular
¼ cup yellow mustard (use more or less to taste)
2 Tsp Dijon mustard (optional, again to taste)
Salt and Pepper

Directions:
Boil potatoes in large stock pot of salted water until tender but not overcooked; remove from water and chill for about 2 hours
Dice potatoes in approximately 1 inch cubes.
Add the remaining ingredients except the mayo and mustard. Mix well and let the Italian dressing just lightly marinate the salad for about an hour. Then add your mayo and mustard and enjoy!!
I hope you and your family and friends enjoyed my article and this recipe! I look forward to sharing another with you next month! Feel free to contact me at the Chancery to let me know if you liked this recipe and what you would like to see in the future. Happy cooking!