Rainbow Potato Salad ( no mayo )

 

Rainbow Potato Salad ( no mayo ) is delicious twist on classic potato salad made without mayo. A bowl of colorful rainbow potatoes with Mediterranean dressing is healthy, vegan and gluten free.

Classic potato salad in my family is the version my grandmother used to make. She boiled potatoes, simply cut to slices and combined with chopped onions, mustard, salt, ground black pepper, olive oil and vinaigrette.

Nowadays, we prefer Aceto Balsamico ( very sharp in flavor ; tart with an underlying sweetness. There’s a fruity, wine-like quality to this kind of vinegar as well, though it’s very subtle. Mostly, balsamic vinegar is wonderfully tangy ) .

My grandmother’s potato salad fed the crowd when served with BBQ or pork chops, be it holiday or just a normal day.

The best is to know we can prepare it a day ahead if everybody was busy during those festive preparations. Since we always had home made olive oil and vinaigrette, we never used pickle juice but it is great substitute. Also, there is always an option to make potato salad with pickles.

Potatoes are so easy to serve with everything !

This Rainbow potato salad is made simple way as well. It looks fancy and refreshing just because I used five different colours of potatoes I found at street market in one single day !

What I love about it is every color tastes differently and it is not colorful potato salad only but it is an amazing combination of sweet earthy flavors as well.

This version is different from traditional potato salad since traditional recipe includes hard boiled eggs and creamy dressing instead of oil and vinaigrette.

And, as you can see, traditional one is heavier version.

 

I serve our Rainbow Potato Salad ( no mayo ) with anything in most of the cases but you may serve it as a side dish to chicken, ham, fish, pork, pancetta, hamburgers, sausages and bratwurst.

Our favourite are fish steaks.

 

Many people boil potatoes after they take the skin off but I leave it on. It prevents potatoes to soak too much water during cooking. That way, they taste better and are so much easier to cut to slices or cubes !

Before cooking, I peel potatoes only when making gnocchi. That way, gnocchi texture is so much softer and if you add some baking powder and sour cream you get heavenly good batch of fluffy gnocchi, gobbled in no time.

When creating your version of vegan, gluten free rainbow potato salad, you may add all colours of bell pepper, cauliflower, leeks, mushrooms, carrot, tomatoes, or cheese.

If you are not limited in creation, chicken, beef, turkey, ham cubes, sausages and all salami leftovers are the most welcome ! That way, your salad is not vegan any more, of course.

To support creative process, let me list spices that complement potatoes : almost all green herbs — dill, chives, tarragon, thyme, rosemary, oregano, basil, cilantro, mint, chives, parsley and cilantro.

How long to boil potatoes ?

My grandmother taught me potatoes are done when they slide off a fork inserted in the middle. This is the best recipe one could get.

The timing depends on size and sort of potatoes. In general, they need 10 to 25 minutes.

It is important to remember this “sliding” tip since potatoes can be over boiled. For some dishes this won’t matter, since the texture is meant to be soft and mushy in the first place, like for mashed potatoes. If you’re making anything else, an overly cooked potato will be a problem and should be avoided.

 

Once you make Rainbow Potato Salad ( no mayo ) recipe, make sure to keep it refrigerated up to four days.

Also, there is one helpful tip for all hard working people: you may precook potatoes a day ahead and finish the other day. I usually boil potatoes on Sunday and finish it while fish sticks are frying on Monday.