The weather was beautiful this past Friday; mid-70’s in February! Since we had to wait on the refrigerator repairman to arrive, we decided to make the most of the beautiful afternoon at home by smoking a beef brisket on the Weber Performer. How dare that repairman to give us a time window on such a beautiful Friday afternoon, right?!?!
The repairman came and upon inspection, he thought that our problem was that we were low on Freon. He topped it off and was on his way. David and I did a small celebration dance that it wasn’t a very expensive repair, but it was short-lived. The temperature inside the refrigerator actually went up and took practically all night to go down just a few degrees. So David called the repairman back first thing in the morning to let him know it was not fixed. Luckily he was able to stop back by Saturday afternoon to take another look.
It turns out that our 5-year old refrigerator needs a new compressor and some other parts he said that would have been over $800 in repairs. David and I had already set a price limit on what we were willing to spend on the repairs, and what he was telling us was way more than we had hoped for. We made a quick decision to not waste any time or money on this clunker. We headed to Winchester, VA to the appliance showroom to pick out a new one before they closed and were credited money we spent on the original service call towards the purchase of a new refrigerator.
David and I had no idea when we woke up on Saturday morning, that we would be heading to the appliance store to buy a new refrigerator. It really sucks, especially given the fact that the warranty expired only a couple of weeks prior. We really didn’t want to buy a new refrigerator, but I tell ya what, I’m excited about the new one and can’t wait for it to arrive this afternoon!
Ok, enough of our refrigerator woes. Let’s talk about Mama Rosa’s Potato Salad.
To me, this recipe makes the best potato salad I have probably ever eaten. It’s our favorite side with smoked beef brisket.
The recipe comes from David’s mama, Rosa. He got the recipe from her many years ago and has made large batches of this potato salad to take to company potlucks. He always comes home with an empty bowl. People eat it up!
The original recipe calls for hard-boiled egg slices, but I do not like hard-boiled eggs. If David makes this potato salad he reserves some without eggs especially for me or he leaves them out altogether, for simplicity.
This crowd-pleasing potato salad features bite-sized potatoes with chopped sweet pickles, and onions mixed together with a dressing of mayonnaise, spicy brown mustard, white vinegar, sugar, and lightly sprinkled with celery seeds.
Mama Rosa’s Potato Salad
THE POTATOES:
Wash and scrub the potatoes. Peel them and cut into large bite-sized cubes.
Place the potatoes inside a medium-sized pot. Add enough water to cover the potatoes with at least one inch of water.
Bring the water to a boil over medium-high heat; reduce to simmer. Keep the water at a gentle simmer. Cook until the potatoes are fork tender (tender all the way through when pierced with a fork), about 8 to 12 minutes. The cooking time depends on the size of your cubes and the type of potatoes.
Drain the potatoes well and transfer them to a large mixing bowl. Add the onions and pickles to the potatoes and gently toss.
THE DRESSING:
In a separate small bowl, stir in mustard and mayonnaise until lumps are smooth. In another separate small bowl, mix vinegar and sugar, until sugar is dissolved. Once the sugar is dissolved add it into the bowl with the mustard mayonnaise mixture. Combine well.
THE SALAD:
Pour the dressing mixture over the potatoes, onions, and pickles. Stir carefully, trying not to mash-up the potatoes too much. Sprinkle in the celery seed and stir in until well-combined*.
Add hard-boiled egg slices, if desired.
* Note: This is a mix to taste recipe and the amount of dressing you make up will depend on the size of the potatoes. You will need to taste the potato salad and adjust seasoning to your taste. Don’t be afraid to add more pickle, onions, dressing or celery seed. Use your best judgment as to how you want it to taste.
I love this potato salad as long as the eggs are left out. Special batches are made just for me, before adding in those stinky eggs. I hope you will love this potato salad as much as we do.
Will you opt for the eggs or not? Comment below!
Mama Rosa's Potato Salad
Ingredients
- 5 cups potatoes bite-sized cubes
- ½ large onion chopped
- ¼ cup sweet pickles chopped
- 4 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
- ½ teaspoon celery seed
- 3 hard-boiled eggs optional, sliced
Instructions
THE POTATOES:
- Wash and scrub the potatoes. Peel them and cut into large bite-sized cubes.Place the potatoes inside a medium-sized pot. Add enough water to cover the potatoes with at least one inch of water.
- Bring the water to a boil over medium-high heat; reduce to simmer. Keep the water at a gentle simmer. Cook until the potatoes are fork tender (tender all the way through when pierced with a fork), about 8 to 12 minutes. The cooking time depends on the size of your cubes and the type of potatoes.
- At this time, boil the eggs, if adding to the recipe.
- Drain the potatoes well and transfer them to a large mixing bowl. Add the onions and pickles to the potatoes and gently toss.
THE DRESSING:
- In a separate small bowl, stir in mustard and mayonnaise until lumps are smooth. In another separate small bowl, mix vinegar and sugar, until sugar is dissolved. Once the sugar is dissolved add it into the bowl with the mustard mayonnaise mixture. Combine well.
THE SALAD:
- Pour the dressing mixture over the potatoes, onions, and pickles. Stir carefully, trying not to mash-up the potatoes too much. Sprinkle in the celery seed and stir in until well-combined*.
- Peel and slice hard-boiled eggs. Cut into slices and top the potato salad, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
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You are the second person I know that does not like hard boiled eggs – the other one is me!!! I add them to my potato salad but they are chopped so fine you can’t tell they are there – I think it adds some nice flavor. I like the spicy brown mustard 🙂
Judy!! It’s not just me?!?! It’s the yolk part. It stinks!! I just don’t care for them. The spicy mustard really gives this potato salad a kick. I hope you try it!
If you find hard boiled eggs to be stinky, try adding a bit of vinegar and salt to the water when cooking. Once boiled, cook no longer than 8 minutes, then plunge into ice water.
The salad looks very tasty. 🙂
Thanks for that tip, Ronit. I’m going to have David try that next time.
Awww yeah that’s a bit of a bummer with the warranty being so darn close!
BUt new stuff is always exciting so there’s that to look forward to!!
xx
Yeah, bitter sweet! ?
I’m always trying new potato salad recipes (although for some reason, I never seem to blog them – I guess because I’m such a bad measurerer and tinkerer! I tend to just measure in my hand so it’s a big deal for me to get out the spoons for a blog post!) My fave potato salad is still my Mom’s but this one looks spectacular. I haven’t tried brown mustard before and I’m making this soon.
Hard boiled eggs are just a bit trickier in the mountains. They take a little longer for one thing. (I lived for years in the Colorado Rockies) but if they’re cooked just to perfection, you really don’t get that sulfer kind of smell. Me, I like the yolks and don’t care for the whites.
I know what you mean Mollie! This recipe was kind of hard to write, hence the big note about adding ingredients “to taste”. I’m not sure if elevation comes into play at only 1000 feet, but it very well may. We’d get along great eating eggs, I don’t eat the yolks…lol!
Hope you have a great weekend!
Oh my gosh this sure looks good, Debbie! Sorry about the fridge but I’m a little jealous that you are going to have a brand new sparkling clean wonderful new fridge! My 20+ year old fridge just keeps plugging along, which of course is a good thing….maybe I’ll show it a little love this weekend and give it a good scrub!
Debbie, I actually asked David if we could get a new stove since the refrigerator is so sparkling clean…lol! You’ve definitely have a gem! Have a great weekend!
I should have read this first. I am sorry you have to buy a new fridge. Hopefully, this one will last. Love the potato salad!
It’s OK. Thanks for reading and for your comments. Hope you will give this recipe a try!
Sorry about your refrigerator…ours is just a little over a year old and we had problems. It had just gone out of warranty too. Enjoy the new one…I think you made the right decision. We were lucky, ours was the fan. If it had been the compressor, the repair man said it would be better to just buy a new one. David’s mother’s potato salad sounds really good but I personally like dill pickles in mine…it is the way my mama made it. 😀
Karen, you made me feel better about purchasing a new one. I’m sorry you have had issues too. They just don’t last anymore. We opted for the 5 year service plan, so we should be good for another 5 years, but I sure hope it is much longer!
Dill pickles in the potato salad sounds heavenly! Did you ever see the recipe I posted a while ago for Dill Pickle Soup? It was potato based. I may have to try dill pickles in mine next time.
Have a great weekend!