Potato salad is one of those typical summer things. I love a traditional potato salad, full of cooked egg and mayo, but sometimes you want something a little different. This potato salad contains no mayo, instead using deliciously tart yogurt for the creamy dressing. Like the traditional, this salad gets much flavour from mustard, but this time using grainy mustard for added texture. To top it off, some fresh tarragon (from the garden! woo!) and sour green apples give it a little kick.
When I first made this dish, modified from one we saw on TV many many years ago, I used Kozlik’s “Sweet & Smokey” mustard, purchased from the St. Lawrence Market here in Toronto. I don’t happen to have any on hand this time around (if only I had planned this in advance a little!), so I’ve added a couple of sweet & smoky elements to make up for it. If you are lucky enough to be able to find Kozlik’s mustards, I highly recommend using “Sweet & Smokey” in this recipe.
This dish reminds me of the first time I had the salad that serves as inspiration for this one. It was made for my university graduation, alongside some incredible grilled portabello mushrooms. That version of the salad had mayo, and a few other differences that I can’t recall (it really has been that long…), but it was a great starting point for me to explore alternatives to ye olde potato salad. I’ve been making it ever since.
Recipe after the jump!
Grainy Mustard Potato Salad
Ingredients:
- 10 new potatoes, cooked, cooled and cubed
- 1 bell pepper, chopped (I use a mix of different colours)
- 1 green apple, peeled and chopped
Dressing:
- 4oz yogurt (not too light – can’t be too thin)
- 3 Tbsp grainy mustard *
- 1 Tbsp tarragon, bruised and roughly chopped
- 2 green onions, white parts chopped finely, green parts sliced (save some of the green to top the salad)
- Pinch smoked salt
- 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or your favourite ingredient for adding heat) optional
- 1-2 tsp honey
- fresh ground pepper, to taste
*Note: My favourite mustard to use here is Kozlik’s “Sweet & Smokey”, in place of half of the grainy mustard, but I don’t know how easy it is to find this outside of Toronto! If you use this, you don’t have to use smoked salt or paprika (just use regular) and you won’t need to add any honey.
Preparation:
- Start by mixing together the dressing ingredients. Let sit for a while, to let the flavours mingle. I try to let it sit for a couple of hours, when possible, but you should refrigerate it if not using right away.
- Put potatoes and peppers into a salad bowl, and toss with dressing. Top with extra green onion or chives.
Easy!! Of course, you can turn this into a meal salad by adding some protein and some other veggies, depending on what you have on hand. I love to add sweet corn, thinly sliced fennel,or grilled portabello mushrooms.
