Creamy Italian Potato Salad

Mark was still in NYC, so the mayo continues!  However, just because I like things made with mayonnaise doesn't mean I welcome all the calories...  So, I tried something a little bit different.

Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds red potatoes, cleaned, and cut into quarters
1/4 c Italian dressing
1/4 c mayonnaise
1 hard boiled egg, chopped
3 green onions, diced
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp chopped fresh dill
1/4 tsp yellow mustard
1/4 tsp honey mustard
1/2 tsp lemon juice
salt & pepper to taste

Directions
Place the quartered potatoes into a large pot, and bring it to a boil.  Once the water is boiling, cook them for 12 minutes, or until they are the tenderness you prefer.  Drain the potatoes and set them aside to cool down.

In a large bowl, combine the Italian salad dressing, mayonnaise, egg, green onion, garlic, dill, mustard and lemon juice.  Stir the cooled potatoes into this mixture already in the bowl.

This was creamy and delicious, and I felt a little less guilty!

Hard Boiled Eggs... There is a secret. For real.

When I found out our CSA was going to come with a dozen eggs each week, I first got excited about making hard boiled eggs, but then realized that was going to be a lot of hard boiled eggs...  Abby and I split a share, and even half is a lot of eggs!  We pretty much just take turns on which one of us takes the eggs.  It doesn't help that Mark pretty much only likes eggs scrambled.  But, this week he's travelling.  So, all the good stuff with eggs and mayonnaise is fair game!


I actually did try to make hard boiled eggs with our first eggs.  And, they were fresh and delicious, but I lost half the white to the shell.  That was a serious bummer, because it meant they were not only half wasted, but they also would make the world's ugliest deviled eggs...  And, it's partially about looks, right?


So, I asked a Chef friend for the secret to keeping the white off the shell, and he said it's all about old eggs...  (Thanks, Chuck Friedhoff!) It never occurred to me that my eggs would be too fresh.  So, I've been sitting on these eggs since 4 weeks now.  Don't worry - farm fresh eggs are good 4-5 weeks from their pack date.


Since I aged them and didn't want them to ruin them, I wondered if there was more to it than just boiling...  That's when I found this site.http://bit.ly/9oqSLH  Man, does she love her eggs.  Which pretty much told me all I needed to know - there is more to it.  


In short - cover your eggs in the pot with cold water and a splash of vinegar.  Put them on the stove, over high heat until the water boils.  When the water boils, turn the heat to low for one minute, and then remove them from the heat.  Cover and let sit for at least 12 minutes.  I went 15.  And, they are the most perfect hard boiled eggs I've ever made!  All results not based on me, but thanks to the tips from both contributions!