Recipe: Grilled Lemon-y Potato Salad with Mustard Seeds

I had no intention of posting tonight, but it would be an absolute travesty to deprive you of this recipe before Labor Day Weekend.

There are two perks to having a close family foodie friend (holy alliteration) who works at a library. The first is guiltlessly thumbing through the rotating piles of cookbooks that find a brief home at our beach house. And the second, eating the cookbook-inspired meals that materialize on the kitchen island after a flurry of chopping, sautéing, grilling, and mixing.

Seeing as potatoes are a carby but gluten free save-haven for Celiacs, I’ve tried my fair share of potato salads. This is the only one that had me begging for the recipe. It hits all the right notes – freshness from the parsley, acidity from the lemon, and a savory crunch from the mustard seeds.

The grilling step can definitely be skipped if you don’t have access to a grill. But please. For the love of all that is delicious, do not skip the mustard seeds. If you do, your world will be a sadder place and I will not be held responsible.

Tip: To toast mustard seeds (or nuts), pour them into a dry frying pan and place over low heat. Toast, tossing occasionally, until fragrant.  

[Original recipe from License to Grill]

Ingredients

2 lbs baby, yellow-skinned potatoes

1/3 cup olive oil, plus some extra

Juice and zest of one lemon

¼ cup mustard seeds, toasted (equivalent of one 1.4 oz. spice container)

2 cloves garlic, minced

Handful of parsley, chopped

5 to 15 dashes Tabasco sauce

Salt and pepper

Recipe

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Rinse the potatoes, and cut any larger ones in half so they’re all uniform in size. Once the water is boiling, add the potatoes.

Meanwhile, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, mustard seeds, garlic, parsley and Tabasco sauce. Set aside.

Check on the potatoes after about 15 minutes. Once a fork easily pierces a potato but they're not yet mushy, drain the potatoes, and place in a large bowl. Drizzle the hot potatoes with olive oil, and add salt and pepper to taste. Toss to coat. If you’re using the grill, throw the oiled potatoes on the grill for about 5 minutes until slightly charred. Return to bowl.

Pour the dressing over the potatoes while they’re still warm, and toss gently until evenly coated. Taste, and add salt and pepper if necessary.

Serve warm or room temperature.