Chances are if you're attending or hosting a 4th of July get together this weekend, potato salad will be involved. Usually it's potato salad purchased from a deli or one that comes in a tub, both utilizing mayonnaise as the binder. But instead of firing up the grill for just dogs and burgers, and maybe some corn, throw on some potato salad as well. I not only find grilled potato salad tastier, but it's also healthier and you can leave it out in the sun all day if you want without worrying about mayo-spoilage. This comes from Heidi, and with a full size grill can be made with relative ease. First, prep your ingredients
10 medium potatoes, quartered - I used new and red
4 medium squash, halved - green or yellow
1 bunch of green onions
2 lemons, quarter
1 onion, quartered
I prepped all the ingredients first and let the potatoes soak in cold water for a while to help weep out some of the starch.
Toss all of the above ingredients in olive oil, season, and toss on the grill. I have a grill pan so I had to cook everything in waves, but all of the ingredients should fit at one time. If you have a small grill you can also help speed up the potato cooking processes by parboiling them or throwing them in the oven for a while first.
Obviously everything isn't going to cook at the same speed, so either rotate ingredients on and off the hot spots of your grill or take them off as they finish cooking. I sliced the onions and squash after cooking to make them more manageable to eat.
While everything is grilling, mince a couple garlic cloves and combine 1/4 C each of rice vinegar and olive oil for a dressing. Taste for seasoning and add a few drops of sesame oil. A little lemon zest or even minced jalapeno would be good additions as well. Toss the dressing with a few handfuls of mixed greens and toss in the grilled ingredients. I also topped the whole thing with some pico de gallo, minus the tomato, for some extra flavor and freshness. You can squeeze the lemons over everything or allow people to squeeze as much as they wish.
I was surprised how good this turned out. I like it more than the usual potato salad and it's delicious hot, room temp, or even a little chilled. I'm definitely making this next time I get assigned potato salad duty.
