Tick, tock. The Summer season is fast approaching and once we Americans fire up our outdoor grills, we'll be faced with more reasons than we can count to whip up a big bowl of the family's favorite tried-and-true mayonnaise-based potato and egg salad or creamy-crunchy coleslaw. That said, because one can never have too many variations on potato salad or coleslaw, consider dressing either of them with spicy Russian- or sweet Thousand Islands- dressing.
Your preference is your choice -- swap 'em out as you please:
For 5 cups Russian or Thousand-Islands-dressed potato salad or coleslaw:
5-6 medium-large Russet potatoes, baked in the microwave until fork-tender, cooled, peeled and 1/2"-3/4" diced, or, 1 16-ounce bag store-bought coleslaw mix
4 ounces diced celery or matchstick carrots (celery for potato salad/carrots for coleslaw)
3/4-1 cup diced red onion, for either potato salad or coleslaw, add to both
1-1 1/2 cups Russian or Thousand Islands salad dressing, preferably homemade as per either of my recipes (Note: Be wary of substituting even high-quality store-bought dressings as they vary greatly in taste and consistency. Ken's SteakHouse is the brand I recommend.)
~Step 1. Place the diced potatoes (or slaw mix), and, celery (or carrots), along with 1 cup onion and 1 cup dressing-of-choice in a large bowl. Using a large rubber spatula, thoroughly combine. Add additional dressing in small increments until desired consistency is reached. Transfer to a 2-quart size food-storage container, cover and refrigerate 4-6 hours or overnight (overnight it best). This simple formula makes 5-6 cups of potato salad or coleslaw relatively quickly.
Note: Use this dressing-to-ingredients ratio as a guideline. Do you like diced bell peppers in your coleslaw? How about chopped hard-cooked egg in your potato salad? If so, add whatever you like, just know you'll need a bit of extra dressing in order to coat any extra add-in ingredients.
Whether it's Russian or Thousand Islands, either makes...
... a great side-dish to my Rueben or a classic Rueben...
... & a fantastic topper for a Rachel-My-Way sandwich.
Russian or Thousand Islands Potato Salad or Slaw: Recipe yields 5-6 cups potato salad or coleslaw.
Special Equipment List: cutting board; chef's knife; large rubber spatula; 2-quart food-storage container w/tight fitting lid
Cook's Note: In the Greater New York area, a sloppy Joe is a different sandwich than what the rest of us have stereotyped in our minds. It is a very large, layered sandwich, containing three slices of bread (usually rye and/or pumpernickel), two or three varieties of paper-thin sliced deli-meat, cheese and Russian or Thousand Island dressing. ~ Another Sloppy Joe? There is one? You Betcha! ~. It always comes with a side-serving of potato salad or coleslaw too.
"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti
(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2019)
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