Sausage Potato Salad

When you think of cooking outdoors, on the grill - what do you call it?  For me, it's always been let's "cook out".  Or "wanna grill" tonight?  It's never, ever been "want to have a barbecue"?  It just sounds strange to me.  I think maybe calling it a barbecue is a southern thing?  Am I right on this one?  I grew up in Michigan and Indiana, and don't recall anybody using that term.

I used to get annoyed when I heard somebody say they were going to put some meat on the barbecue.  Don't ask me why.  I was all like "barbecue is a sauce, people".  {chuckles}  I've gotten over my aversion to calling it (or rather, hearing it called) a barbecue.  It is what it is, and over the years, I accepted that it was just another way of saying what I say.  Tomayto, tomahto.  I guess I grew up.  No comments from the peanut gallery.

Now, let me just say that I love main grill courses (otherwise known as MEAT), but there's just something about the awesome array of side dishes that make their way to a table at a cook-out that makes me happy.  From baked beans to coleslaw to corn on the cob to pasta salad to potato salad...I love it all!

That said, I am extra fond of potato salad.  I like 'em all.  Well, except the ones that are more mayonnaise than potato.  I like potato salad with mayonnaise dressing, not mayonnaise salad with potato garnish.  Oh, and I despise Miracle Whip - so please put a label on a salad if you've made it with that, lest I lose it.  An unappetizing thought in and of itself.  But of them all, I probably love vinegar or mustard-based potato salads most of all.

And I love "other" stuff in my potato salad.  Smoky bacon, spicy chorizo, smoked sausage or kielbasa with caramelized edges...crunchy radishes, green beans, or celery...even greens and herbs.  Heck, often times, I'd happily do away with the rest of the meal just to stuff myself with a good tater salad.  Strange?

Sausage Potato Salad

This vinegar and mustard based potato salad recipe loaded with caramelized sausage and two kinds of potatoes is a delicious side dish, but hearty enough to make a meal.

by Heather Schmitt-Gonzalez

Prep Time: 10-15 minutes

Cook Time: 20-25 minutes

Keywords: side entree salad potatoes sausage summer

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

for the salad:

• 1 pound small yellow potatoes
• 1 pound small red potatoes
• 1 pound smoked sausage or kielbasa, sliced into 1/4-inch thick rounds
• 2 stalks celery (1/2 cup), finely chopped
• 4 green onions (1/4 cup), thinly sliced

for the dressing:

• 4-6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (see instructions)
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Whole Grain Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon Spicy Brown mustard
• 1 fat clove garlic, minced or pressed
• big pinch of sea salt
• few good grinds of black pepper

Instructions

starting the salad:

Boil or steam the potatoes until they are just tender. Cut into halves or quarters (depending on how big they are), and place them into a large bowl. Add the celery and green onions to the bowl.

While the potatoes are cooking, add the sausage slices to a medium non-stick (cast-iron, hard anodized, etc) skillet over medium-high heat and cook, stirring as needed, until the sausage has browned a bit. Lift the sausage slices out of the skillet, leaving as much of the rendered grease behind as possible, adding the sausage to the bowl with the potatoes.

making the dressing:

Measure the rendered grease from the sausage and put it into a jar with a tight fitting lid; really it depends on your sausage, but you should get about 2 tablespoons. Add enough olive oil to bring the amount of fat up to 6 tablespoons.

Add remaining dressing ingredients to the jar, put on the lid, and shake like crazy until your dressing is thick(-ish) and well-combined.

to finish:

Pour the dressing over the salad ingredients in the bowl, and toss gently to coat and combine. Serve at room temperature.

notes:

So, technically potato salad is a side dish - but I can eat a big portion of it (especially this variation) as a meal and be completely satisfied.

-adapted from Paula Deen

My neighbor pup always visits - but especially when she smells food!