Food In The Fort

(Well, apparently about 169.000 people say that, according to Google, but that’s not the point.)

As poor Leo can tell you, I am just a teeny-tiny, itsy-bitsy bit obsessed with recreating recipes so that they taste just like my Mom made them. There’s her shrimp scampi recipe which is always a little less vermouth-y than I remember, the cucumber salad that is always too oily or too vinegary and the turkey gravy on which I don’t even come close. But the other day I nailed one of those maternal recipes to the wall: potato salad exactly as I remember having it as a kid. God it was good. It has a bunch of hard-boiled eggs in it and a lot of celery, but the key ingredient is the celery salt (which is also the key ingredient in a good Bloody Mary; no, my Mom didn’t make me Bloody Marys, that was my Dad).

So here it is, just in time for summer picnicking season:

Potato Salad Just Like Mom Used to Make
Ingredients

• 6 or 7 potatoes
• 3 stalks of celery, chopped
• 1 medium onion, grated
• a little bit of green pepper, chopped fine
• 1/2 cup mayo
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 2 hard boiled eggs, diced
• 1 tsp celery salt
• some celery seeds
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Boil the potatoes until tender. If you’re going to do it like Mom, peel the potatoes, but if you’re lazy like Leo and me, just leave them in their jackets.
2. Slice the potatoes into 1/4 inch slices and set aside in a large bowl.
3. Combine everything else in a small bowl and mix well.
4. Gently add the mayo-veggie-spice mixture to the potatoes.

About the author:  I'm a Latin-teaching foodie who has lived (and eaten) in Fort Wayne for the past 10 years. I love all the ethnic grocery stores here and the great Mexican restaurants. Cooking is something that I really enjoy, although I tend to improvise a lot and experience my share of disasters. My parents are both wonderful cooks, as was my paternal grandmother (Oma), and I'm always trying to make things the way mom, dad or Oma did. Read more from this author