Potato salad season opens this weekend! Here are 5 you'll love

By Leslie Brenner

[Editor’s note: This story was originally published, in slightly different form, on May 28, 2021.]

This weekend marks the official unofficial season opener for summer’s most craveable side dish — the underdog show-stealer of every picnic or potluck. We can all pretend we can do without it, and then boom! A great potato salad blindsides us with deliciousness.

Here are five — three American, and two Japanese-style — that will round out your celebrations from now through Labor Day. (And probably beyond!)

Why Japanese-style? Because potato salad is a delicious example of yoshoku — Western dishes that migrated to Japan in the late 19th century and became truly Japanese. There’s something truly fabulous about this particular yoshuku fusion; Japanese flavors really make potatoes sing.

1. Herb-Happy Potato Salad

Red potatoes, red wine vinaigrette and either shallots or scallions come together under a flurry of fresh, soft herbs with this light, quick vegan potato salad that’s a snap to make.

2. Salaryman Potato Salad

Salaryman Potato Salad: Each portion of the Japanese potato salad gets topped with half an ajitama marinated egg

Mayonnaise-based and built on russets, this cucumber-laced Japanese potato salad gets umami from HonDashi (instant dashi powder — a secret weapon of many a Japanese chef). Each portion is topped with half an ajitama, the delicious (and easy-to-make) marinated egg that often garnishes ramen. We fell in love with the salad at Salaryman, Justin Holt’s erstwhile ramen house in Dallas, and chef Holt was kind enough to share the recipe.

3. Jubilee Country-Style Potato Salad

When I came upon this recipe in Toni Tipton-Martin’s award-winning book, Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking, it was so luscious it sent me into a potato-salad binge that went on for weeks. Eggy, mayonnaise-y and old-fashioned (in a good way!), it reminds me of the potato salad my mom used to make. Try not to eat the whole bowl.

4. Sonoko Sakai’s Potato Salada

For a different style of Japanese potato salad, try Sonoko Sakai’s “Potato Salada” from her award-winning book, Japanese Home Cooking. It’s dressed with homemade Japanese mayo and nerigoma (Japanese-style tahini), but sometimes we cheat and use Kewpie mayo (our favorite brand of commercial Japanese mayonnaise) and store-bought tahini. We love the carrots, green beans and cukes in this one!

5. Best Potato Salad Ever

Is it really the best ever? You’ll need to try it to see what you think, but I think if I had to commit to only one for the rest of my life, it would be this one. The secret to its wonderfulness is New Wave Sauce Gribiche — soft-boiled eggs tossed with chopped herbs, capers, cornichons and shallots, plus Champagne vinegar, lemon juice and Dijon mustard. Stir that into sliced boiled potatoes, and you get something rich, tangy and absolutely delicious — a potato salad that’s actually main-course-worthy, but also makes a dreamy side dish.

Have an excellent, potato-salad-filled Memorial Day weekend!

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12 great dishes to invite to a vegan picnic

Herb-Happy Potato Salad

By Leslie Brenner

Why eat inside when you can eat outside? That’s my philosophy anytime the weather’s fine. And whether you’re vegan, or you like to eat plant-based sometimes or much of the time, it just feels nice to keep things light and clean when you’re being outdoorsy and maybe a hike or nature walk is in the picture.

To that end, here are a dozen vegan treats to pack in a basket. They’re mostly simple to put together, and many can be made the night before and kept chilled till you’re ready to roll.

Classic Tabbouleh

Minty, fragrant and portable, classic tabbouleh is a perfect picnic food that satisfies summer tomato cravings. Our recipe, adapted from Anissa Helou’s Feast: Food of the Islamic World, calls for romaine leaves for scooping it up; lately we’ve been loving it with organic little gems.

RECIPE: Classic Tabbouleh

Giant White Beans with Lemon Zest and Olive Oil

This dish came to us through a cookbook we love — La Buvette: Recipes and Wine Notes from Paris, by Camille Fourmont and Kate Leahy. The book is about Fourmont’s Paris wine bar, and this super simple prep was one of the first things she started serving there. No formal recipe required: Open a can of gigante beans or butter beans, rinse and drain them well, drizzle with great olive oil and finish with citrus zest and flaky salt, such as Maldon. Fourmont changes up her zest choice according to the season (mandarin! bergamot!), but we find it irresistible with lemon. If you want to be really fancy, you can bring the zest and Maldon salt separately, and finish it after you’ve given the beans a quick toss to recoat them in olive oil at the picnic.

Fragrant Dressed Tofu

We fell for this dish recently as we tested recipes from Hannah Che’s inspiring The Vegan Chinese Kitchen for a review. Meant to be eaten room-temp or chilled, it’s ideal picnic fare.

RECIPE: Fragrant Dressed Tofu

Spinach with Sesame Dressing

This classic Japanese starter or side — served at room temp — will be vegan if you make it with vegan dashi. To make vegan dashi, soak a piece of kombu (about 4 inches square) in filtered water at room temperature for 3 to 10 hours, then drain.

RECIPE: Spinach with Sesame Dressing

Charred Summer Salad

Designed to be served warm, this beautiful toss is also great at room-temp. Leave off the optional cheese for the vegan version.

RECIPE: Charred Summer Salad

Quinoa, Pea and Mint Tabbouleh

This spin on classic tabbouleh — swapping quinoa for bulghur wheat and peas for chick peas and doing without tomatoes — is one of our all-time favorite picnic foods. We always make a double batch, it’s so good.

RECIPE: Quinoa, Pea and Mint Tabbouleh

Sweet Home Café’s Spicy Pickled Okra

Quite simply the best pickled okra we’ve ever tasted, these are adapted from a recipe in Sweet Home Cafe Cookbook. (Sweet Home Cafe is the restaurant in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.) The pickles are crispy and tangy — with just a touch of sugar.

RECIPE: Sweet Home Café’s Spicy Pickled Okra

Herb-Happy Potato Salad

Shown in the photo at the top of this story, this is riffable potato salad is elegant, pretty and delicious. For a picnic, bring the herbs along in a separate container and scatter them on top at the picnic table.

RECIPE: Herb-Happy Potato Salad

Baba Ganoush

We love this classic baba ganoush with homemade pita bread, but for a picnic, we’ll pick up pita at the supermarket or a Lebanese bakery.

RECIPE: Baba Ganoush

Hummus, dressed as you like

Preternaturally smooth hummus can be yours, whether you want to start from dried chick peas or open a can of garbanzos. Either way, it’s always at home at a picnic — especially if you picked up that pita bread. Dress it with olive oil and sumac, or make it fancy by dropping a handful of fresh herbs and sliced radishes on top.

RECIPE: Amazing Cheater Hummus

RECIPE: Ultimate Hummus

Smashed Cucumber Salad

Here’s another eminently riffable dish that travels well. This version is adapted from The Vegan Chinese Kitchen.

RECIPE: Smashed Cucumber Salad

Minted Fruit Salad

This fruit dessert is so basic, you don’t need a recipe — just toss whatever cut-up fruit you like with mint and a little Grand Marnier or other orange liqueur (or orange juice). In case you’d like a roadmap (or want to learn how to cut orange supremes), here’s a recipe:

RECIPE: Minted Fruit Salad

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MORE RECIPES: Find more plant-based recipes from Cooks Without Borders

READ: Brunch, picnic or dinner: 18 delightful recipes for Mother’s Day

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Brunch, picnic or dinner: 18 delightful recipes for Mother’s Day

By Leslie Brenner

Have you left planning your Mother’s Day celebration till the last minute? No worries — there’s still ample time! Shop today, make anything this afternoon that needs to be made in advance, and tomorrow will be a breeze. In fact, many of the dishes below can be made entirely in advance.

I’ve put together some of my favorite dishes for Mother’s Day — things that are delightfully spring-y, festive, delicious and versatile: Any of these would be perfect for brunch, lunch, dinner or a picnic. If you have time, add in a hand-made food gift — like Olivia’s Salsa Macha, or a jar of Jubilee’s Pickled Shrimp. Or give her your mom a new cookbook (even if you tell her it’s been ordered and it’s on the way, she’ll still love it).

OK, enough chatter. Here come the recipes. Mix and match according to what sounds good.

Fresh Herb Kuku from Najmieh Batmanglij’s ‘Food of Life’

Carrotes Râpées

This version of the classic French carrots in lemon vinaigrette asks you to cut the carrots into fine julienne, but you can just grate them, as French home cooks do.

Pickled Shrimp

I love this aforementioned pickled shrimp from Toni Tipton-Martin’s Jubilee. (The cookbook also makes a great gift).

Quinoa, Pea and Mint Tabbouleh

This minty salad from Michael Solomonov’s Zahav has been a favorite of mine for years. I made it just last night — a double-batch, though there was only two of us. That’s how much I like it.

Buckwheat Blinis with Crab Salad, Smoked Trout or Smoked Salmon

Top these tender, delicious little buckwheat blinis with crab salad, as Roxana Jullapat suggests in her splendid book Mother Grains. Or dab each with crème fraîche or sour cream, and top with a small piece of smoked trout or smoked salmon and snipped chives or a sprig of dill. If you’re taking them to a picnic, bring the blinis separately and assemble them on the picnic table.

Pea-Ricotta Dip

Super easy to make, light-hearted and lemony, Pea-Ricotta Dip is wonderful with rye bread, baguette or even crackers.

Greenest Gazpacho

Deliciously vegan and delightfully herbal, The Greenest Gazpacho is a make-ahead crowd-pleaser that also travels well. (Bring the herbs in a zipper bag and serve in short plastic glasses.)

Cucumber, Radish and Feta Salad

This pretty Cucumber, Radish and Feta Salad is inspired by khiar bel na’na, a Levantine cucumber salad made with dried mint and orange blossom water. We love what fresh mint layers into the mix.

Herb-Happy Potato Salad

More a blueprint than a strict recipe, our Herb-Happy Potato Salad is infinitely riffable. Find more delicious potato salad ideas here.

Najmieh’s Fresh Herb Kuku

The wonderful Fresh Herb Kuku from Najmieh Batmanglij’s Food of Life (photo near the top of the story) is like a Persian frittata.

Poached Salmon or Arctic Char

Poached fish is always a lovely Mother’s Day centerpiece, and it’s one that happens to travel super well. Try a simple classic version with dill sauce, or the Poached Salmon with Fennel-Celery Salad and Caper Mayo from Kate Leahy’s Wine Style. Leahy’s is meant to be served warm, but it’s also fabulous cold.

Quintessential Quiche Lorraine

One of my favorite all-time brunch dishes, Quiche Lorraine also travels well. Our version is Quintessential.

Perfect Easy Roast Chicken

Classic roast chicken makes a great centerpiece anytime. You can also make it ahead, chill it down and invite it to a picnic — it’s great with all those salads, and maybe a Tangy Green Everything Sauce. Ours comes with a story about what mothers can learn from their kids who cook.

Blueberry-Lemon-Almond Anytime Cake

Inspired by a recipe in Ottolenghi Simple, our Blueberry-Lemon-Almond Anytime Cake is juicy with fruit and travels well.

Almond Tuiles

Lovely on their own, with coffee, or with ice cream or chocolate mousse (see below), these Almond Tuiles are surprisingly easy to make.

Strawberry-Mezcal Ice Cream

Your mom loves mezcal — doesn’t she?! We thought so: She’ll love our Strawberry-Mezcal Ice Cream. If she’s not a mezcal fan, swap it out for tequila, orange liqueur or a touch of almond extract or orange-blossom water.

Apricot and Pistachio Olive-Oil Cake

Apricot season will be soon, but you don’t have to wait to make this Apricot and Pistachio Olive-Oil Cake from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking with Dorie — dried apricots and apricot preserves provide the magic.

Your Favorite Chocolate Mousse

If your mom is a chocolate-lover, something tells us Your Favorite Chocolate Mousse will be her favorite too. For a picnic, you can chill these in short plastic cups and wrap in plastic film — either pre-garnished, or bring along the whipped cream and cocoa nibs or sprinkles.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Potato salad season opens today! Here are 5 you'll love

By Leslie Brenner

Today is the official unofficial season opener for summer’s most craveable side dish — the underdog show-stealer of every picnic or potluck. We can all pretend we can do without it, and then boom! A great potato salad blindsides us with deliciousness.

Here are five — three American, and two Japanese-style — that will round out your celebrations from now through Labor Day. (And probably beyond!)

Why Japanese-style? Because potato salad is a delicious example of yoshoku — Western dishes that migrated to Japan in the late 19th century and became truly Japanese. There’s something truly fabulous about this particular yoshuku fusion; Japanese flavors really make potatoes sing.

1. Herb-Happy Potato Salad

Red potatoes, red wine vinaigrette and either shallots or scallions come together under a flurry of fresh, soft herbs with this light, quick potato salad that’s a snap to make.

2. Salaryman Potato Salad

Salaryman Potato Salad: Each portion of the Japanese potato salad gets topped with half an ajitama marinated egg

Mayonnaise-based and built on russets, this cucumber-laced Japanese potato salad gets umami from HonDashi (instant dashi powder — a secret weapon of many a Japanese chef). Each portion is topped with half an ajitama, the delicious (and easy-to-make) marinated egg that often garnishes ramen. We fell in love with the salad at Salaryman, Justin Holt’s erstwhile ramen house in Dallas, and chef Holt was kind enough to share the recipe.

3. Jubilee Country-Style Potato Salad

When I came upon this recipe in Toni Tipton-Martin’s award-winning book, Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking, it was so luscious it sent me into a potato-salad binge that went on for weeks. Eggy, mayonnaise-y and old-fashioned (in a good way!), it reminds me of the potato salad my mom used to make. Try not to eat the whole bowl.

4. Sonoko Sakai’s Potato Salada

For a different style of Japanese potato salad, try Sonoko Sakai’s “Potato Salada” from her award-winning book, Japanese Home Cooking. It’s dressed with homemade Japanese mayo and nerigoma (Japanese-style tahini), but sometimes we cheat and use Kewpie mayo (our favorite brand of commercial Japanese mayonnaise) and store-bought tahini. We love the carrots, green beans and cukes in this one!

5. Best Potato Salad Ever

I cringe a little every time I see the moniker of this bad boy, which I named before discovering Toni Tipton-Martin’s, Justin Holt’s or Sonoko Sakai’s. Still, I do think Best Potato Salad Ever is worthy of at least tying for the title. The secret to its wonderfulness is New Wave Sauce Gribiche — soft-boiled eggs tossed with chopped herbs, capers, cornichons and shallots, plus Champagne vinegar, lemon juice and Dijon mustard. How could you go wrong, right?

Have an excellent, potato-salad-filled Memorial Day weekend!

Recipe for Today: Asparagus, all dressed up!

By Leslie Brenner

We have a new feature at Cooks Without Borders: our Recipe for Today. Every morning, the green announcement bar at the top of all our pages offers a link to something that sounds delicious to us that day: Recipe for Today!

It’ll be right for the season, holiday-appropriate if something’s going on, and keyed to whether it’s a weekday or weekend.

As often as we can manage, we’ll also feature it in a quickie story, like this one.

Asparagus with a new-wave gribiche is one of our favorite ways to celebrate spring. It’s great for a weekend brunch, a picnic in the park, a dinner with friends, a potluck or even a festive celebration. The New Wave Gribiche in our recipe is inspired by L.A. chef (Gjelina, Gjusta) Travis Lett’s modern take on classic French sauce gribiche, made with eggs, capers, cornichons, herbs, shallots and other good things.

Enjoy your Recipe for Today!

If you enjoy Recipe for Today, please share it on your social channels or email it to a friend who will like it. Thank you!