Red Pepper Lime Potato Salad

Today is International Picnic Day. It’s the second Picnic Day of the year, and with good reason. The origins of a Picnic may be French, yet people all over the glove love to picnic, especially Americans. It makes sense that we would have both a National Picnic Day and an International Picnic Day.

International Picnic Day seems the perfect time to share one of our favorite Picnic Potato Salads. This isn’t your typical egg-potato-mayo potato salad. For reasons I cannot imagine, Hubby is not a fan of potato salad. He would much rather have a Macaroni Salad. That said, this slightly hot (as in spice) pucker powered potato salad is one he truly likes. Maybe it’s the red pepper flakes that appeal to him, or the lack of eggs. Whatever it is, I’m glad because this happens to be one of my favorite potato salads, too.

When it comes to picnics, I guess we are all grateful to coolers and the ability to take refrigerated foods with us. I love picnics. If I had it my way, we’d have a picnic every weekend. Some of my fondest memories has to be piling the whole family up in the station wagon and driving cross country to visit family. We didn’t take vacations to resorts or amusement parks – we spent time visiting with cousins and uncles and aunts. Two or three days drive meant sleeping on a mattress in the back of the station wagon and having picnics along the highway. Of course, roads were different. One or two lanes in either direction, with plenty of places to pull over. People seemed to meander back then, not in an all-fired hurry. I miss those days.

Just ask Hubby – when we take a road trip, I insist on picnics along the way. I even create a picnic basket from an old suitcase. While it looks amazing, it’s not very practical – big, bulky and oh so heavy.

This summer, when we take to the road, I’ll be using a light-weight backpack for my picnic supplies. And you can bet I’ll be packing some potato salad for that first day on the road.

Red Pepper Lime Potato Salad
2 lbs Baby Red Potatoes
1/4 cup Green Onions
1/4 cup Mayonnaise
Kosher Salt to taste
Black Pepper to taste
1 Lime
1/2 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes or to taste

Scrub potatoes. Place in a pot and cover with about an inch of water. Bring to a boil, lower to a rolling simmer and cook until just fork tender, about 10 to 12 minutes. Drain potatoes, plunge into an ice bath to stop cooking.

Once potatoes are cooled, drain and cut in half or quarters depending upon size. Chill until ready to assemble salad.

Clean and trim roots from green onion. Dice onion, place in a large mixing bowl. Add mayonnaise, salt and pepper. Zest lime into the mayonnaise mixture. Cut lime in half, juice half of the lime. Stir; taste dressing and add remaining half of the lime juice if desired depending upon taste. Add red pepper flakes, stir to blend.

Add chilled potatoes to the dressing. Toss to coat potatoes with the lime dressing. Chill until ready to serve.