Of Potatoes and Eggs

I'm wracking my brain these days thinking of recipes that will use more of our surplus eggs. My potato salad recipe has more eggs than the usual potato salad so I made some of that today.

For years, even though I tried multitudinous different variations, I was never happy with any potato salad I made. I think I tended to throw everything but the kitchen sink in as ingredients assuming more would make it better. Then I tasted this potato salad at a friend's house, and she kindly shared her recipe with me.

Turns out to be very simple with pretty basic ingredients. I love it and have made it regularly for years.

POTATO SALAD

3 lbs. potatoes
9 hard boiled eggs
1 good sized onion
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
Mayonnaise

Just to confuse the issue, I made only half the above recipe today since it will be only the two of us eating this batch. So pictured above are 1-1/2 lbs. of potatoes and . . . um, uh, how do you halve 9 eggs? I know! Four regular sized eggs and one bantam egg.

Sad to say, these are very close to the last of our potatoes from last year's harvest. Well, actually I have enough spuds to last well into the summer, but they have all caught spring fever and sprouted as if they were on steroids. We obviously failed to keep them cold enough.

But back to our preparations. Boil the eggs in the usual manner and cook the potatoes with their skins on. I really do think they have more flavor that way.

How do you know when the potatoes are done? By employing advanced technology. Stick a fork in them. If there's anything worse than mushy, over-cooked potatoes in potato salad, it's potatoes that are still crunchy! I stop cooking mine when the fork slides in to the center of the potato with little resistance.

Cool potatoes slightly, peel and cube them. Do the same with the hard boiled eggs. Place in mixing bowl.

Add chopped onion. Just how much is "one good sized onion?" We like onions so for the full recipe, I would add one cupful. It it's summer and I have scallions ready in the garden, I substitute them for a regular yellow onion.

Add prepared mustard, salt and pepper. When chives are in season, I take a couple of minutes to run out to the garden, grab a handful to chop and throw in for color.

Then mix in enough mayonnaise to get the consistency you prefer. I dislike dry potato salad so I use mayonnaise liberally.

That's all there is to it. Maybe I should have made the full recipe. Then I would have used up 9 eggs instead of just 4-1/2!