Red Potato Salad with Blue Cheese and Grilled Corn
Ah. Summer is truly, truly here. I’m not a summer enthusiast like some people. I quite like my black sweaters and fires in the fireplace, and sometimes the expectations that summer be FUN! are kind of onerous. But, when we have a few days like today–75 degrees, slight breeze, views of the Cascade and Olympic mountain ranges–I can wait on the black sweaters for awhile.
Also, we are stay-cationing at my friend Deb’s amazing house with old casement windows that swing out over Lake Washington, so I would be crazy not to like summer right now. They don’t need us to take care of anything, so we can just come and go according to our schedules and whims. I stocked up on some vacation food today (i.e. caloric dips and ice cream) so we’ll see how much cooking I actually do.
Here’s something from the other night, though, that you might want to bring to your 4th of July picnic. Like summertime, 4th of July is another time that’s not 100% great for me. Our neighborhood is home to lots of first generation immigrants and refugees and I always wonder how fireworks sound to them. I’ll bet they’re not neutral sounds. I’ll bet they sound like war, and that makes me even less keen on the explosions and craziness. But if this holiday weekend gives you a chance to be with people you love and eat fattening things, it’s not all bad.
Truly a Leftoverist creation, this salad. I had boiled a bunch of on-the-brink potatoes and used some for Potato Taco Salad. At the same time, I threw in half a dozen eggs close to their expiration date and hard-boiled them. And I had some cold grilled corn-on-the-cob because the kids didn’t eat as much of it as they promised to. The sweet crunchiness of the corn kernels, sharpness of the blue cheese, and softness of the eggs and potatoes makes for a grab-your-fork-eat-it-over-the-sink-before-bed kind of affair, which is exactly what I did last night after coming home late and exhausted. This week has quite a bit of exhaustion in store, actually, so if I’m absent here, it’s not because I’ve forgotten about you. Quite the contrary–I’ll be scheming about how to get back.
P.S. Thanks to Judy and the wonderful Whidbey residents at the vegetarian cooking class last night. We had fun, and we definitely did not starve. I hope to see you here.
Red Potato Salad with Blue Cheese and Grilled Corn
If all you have is canned or frozen corn, just leave it out. If you don’t or didn’t grill your fresh corn, that’s alright. You can use boiled or this method, which is a favorite of mine. Strip the kernels from ears of fresh corn by running a sharp knife down the sides. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high, put the tiniest bit of olive oil in, and throw the fresh kernels in. Cook until toasty and just barely cooked, about 4 minutes. You can cook this way for use in salsas or other kinds of salads as well. Now THAT tastes like summer.
2 lbs. red potatoes, boiled and cooled
4-6 hard boiled eggs, diced
1/2 c. crumbled blue cheese
Kernels from 2 or 3 ears of grilled fresh corn (or prepared in the above way)
3/4 c. mayo
lots of salt and pepper
1 clove minced garlic
2 Tb. white wine vinegar
pinch paprika (optional. I didn’t use this time)
2 green onions, finely sliced
Mix mayo with garlic, salt, pepper, and vinegar. Set aside.
In bowl, combine potatoes, eggs, blue, cheese, and corn. Pour mayo mixture over and mix gently with your hands. Top with green onions and more salt and pepper.
Have you tried the Trader Joe’s frozen roasted corn? Could I substitute that? or still NO!
BTW…we had your potato taco salad last night and even Zach, the non-salad lover, raved. THANKS!
Megan, I didn’t know that kind of corn existed! Yum. Definitely use it.
Mmmmm! I love potato salads. And roasted corn. And blue cheese. And hardboiled eggs. Sounds delicious. Enjoy your stay-cation
Loreta’s picture above is priceless. Nothing is better than a good soak in a hot summer’s day.
I miss Pacific Northwest summers SO MUCH now that I’m stuck in steamy Seoul. Your leftovers creation looks great, and I’m another fan of the fresh kernels in a skillet with olive oil method!
Seoul?! Surely there are wonderful eats there!
papa could not get over the cute quotion of this pic of loretta. the pics of his grandkids keeps his readership regular,they always make him smile big. thanks sarah, this one is darling.
nice way to kick potato salad up a notch. I like to crumble crisp bacon over the top. blue cheese and bacon are a combo that always seems to hit it out of the park.
nice reflection on the 4th as we celebrate our independence, we can be grateful however that some of those same refugees and immigrants,can now live in peace. thank you america for opening our doors to war torn countries ,and giving those people a place of freedom as well. at least they don’t have to hear those sounds everyday!
i do struggle with the amount of $$$ blown up on that day. just imagine how better spent it could be.
it is a day of job security for all those firefighters though, bless their hearts for working so hard to keep us safe.
liking the yellow plate, blue cloth!
love that picture of loretta p.!
what a cutie. I’ve been praying that I made it in to last Tuesday’s edition of “talk about it” after babysitting the night before
I’ll miss your postings in July, but am thrilled that I’ll have a meaty amount to catch up on when I return. Like a little journal of your month.
xo
We made our famous burgers Friday and today we used the leftover bacon in your salad. Zach asked if I was turning into the leftoverist…no, just glad she is rubbing off. The frozen grilled corn from TJs was good and the salad could be one of my favorite potato salads. Thanks again.
Hi Megan! Is Zack nervous about you turning into The Leftoverist? He can get support from Yancey. And now I’m curious…what’s in your famous burgers?
I usually don’t get very excited about potato salad, but gave this one a try tonight. I loved it! What shocked me the most was my son ate it and he never eats potatoes unless they are in the form of fries. By the way, your prep on the corn is the best!
I stumbled into your blog today googling for a parsley pesto recipe, and I am in love. I made the pesto and also this potato salad. It is perhaps the most divine food I’ve ever tasted. I could eat the entire bowl myself, right now. Even my husband, an avowed potato salad hater admitted it was good after I forced him to take a bite!
Hi Keesha! I’m so flattered that you made TWO of these recipes in one day! Welcome to our little world
Fixed that for ya. I hope I didn’t just offend half of your readers…
Made this tonight for our friend Kelly!
We both LOVED it. Can’t imagine making boring old potato salad ever again. I have a new fun cooking challenge for myself, I am going to try and make something from your site once a week. (Not including the granola that is just going to be part of our family from here on out!)
this potato salad is amazing sarah. wow. the blue cheese is like crack.
i didn’t get around to dinner until, oh about 10:00 last night, and this was seriously worth it. it took an incredible amount of will power to not eat the whole thing at once. i’m now eating the leftovers at my desk for lunch.