Potato Salad and Kaiser Rolls

Last month, I was cooking out of The Mile End Cookbook: Redefining Jewish Comfort Food from Hash to Hamantaschen , and I think my two favorite recipes in the book were for the potato salad....

...and the Kaiser rolls...

Overall, I found the recipes to be a little bit fussy - i.e. calling for "3 cups plus 2 tablespoons bread flour" as if the 2 tablespoons are really necessary.   Also "4 1/2 teaspoons sugar" seemed a little odd - why not make it 1 1/2 tablespoons and call it a day?  The potato salad called for home made dressing, which I was nervous about making since the demise of my old Osterizer blender, which made wonderful emulsions.  My new Kitchen Aid blender ended up with "broken" mayo the last time I made it - I think the shape of the pitcher is the root cause of the problem.  The old blender was tall and thin; the new one is much more stout.  This cookbook suggested using a food processor, which worked great.  Now I can make mayo again! I normally don't like potato salad, but I ate this one with gusto.  I had some leftover mustard mayonnaise, which was delicious in tuna salad, too.   Here's how I made both - tweaked the recipes to be less fussy....

Potato Salad

For the mustard mayonnaise
2 egg yolks
2 T spicy brown mustard
juice of 1 lemon
2 T white vinegar
1 T. kosher salt
3 garlic cloves, peeled
1 3/4 c. safflower oil

Combine all dressing ingredients except the oil in the bowl of a food processor.  Process until smooth and tripled in volume, about 3 minutes.   Then, with the processor running, add the oil in a slow, steady stream through the hole in the top of the processor; continue mixing until the oil is fully emulsified.

For the potato salad
3 lb small red potatoes, halved
kosher salt
6 green onions, sliced
1 c. chopped flat leaf parsley
1 c. thinly sliced red onion

Boil potato in a pot with about a 1/2 c. kosher salt, drain and cool.  Mix potatoes, parsley, scallions and onions and about a cup or so of the mayo (or to your preference).   Season with salt and pepper to taste.


Later, I will write about the kaiser rolls.  Meanwhile, I plan on enjoying this potato salad all summer!