Healthy-ish potato salad

OK, I bet I know your first question. What makes this potato salad “healthy-ish”? Three things:

• Leaving the skin on the potatoes for the fiber and nutrients.
• Using nonfat Greek yogurt in place of most of the mayonnaise.
• Adding egg whites for a bit of protein.

Having said that, potato salad is never going to be considered a nutrition star. Thus the “ish”. I consider this dish only somewhat guilt-inducing. Let’s call it a 3 on the Cathy guilt scale (with 1 being steamed kale and 10 being chicken-fried steak.)

The super-tangy herbed dressing is what makes this salad. The yogurt is tangy to begin with, then the cider vinegar, mustard and pickles take it to a whole new level of tang. If you’re really a pickle lover, throw in a couple tablespoons of pickle juice and you will be in pickle heaven. I got some great spicy pickle slices at Whole Foods, and chopped them up. One or two at first, then more as I tasted.

Rather than use only Greek yogurt, I mixed it with a touch of reduced-fat Vegenaise. I know, using a vegan mayo in a non-vegan recipe sounds odd. But I just like the stuff. You can, of course, substitute any other kind of mayonnaise, or go all Greek.

My friend Pamela says she doesn’t like potato salads that are “all gross and eggy”, but I think she’d love it made with eggs whites only, as they add a nice light touch rather than making it overly thick and rich, as whole eggs do. But if you’re hopelessly anti-egg, the salad is great without them, too.

In the end, this is a pretty traditional potato salad with a nice bold flavor, a light but creamy texture and less fat and calories. What more could you want?

(Thanks to Chris and the aforementioned Pamela for photo selection help. This 7am iPhone shot is not half bad!)

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Healthy-ish Potato Salad

2 pounds red potatoes, scrubbed and diced
¼ cup + 1 tablespoon cider vinegar, divided
1/3 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons reduced fat Vegenaise
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon sugar
3 hard boiled egg whites, chopped
½ cup finely chopped sweet (Vidalia) onion
½ cup diced celery
3-4 tablespoons chopped spicy or sweet pickles
2 teaspoons chopped celery leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill, or more to taste
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives, optional
1 ½ teaspoons salt, divided
Plenty of freshly ground black pepper

Place the potatoes in a large saucepan, cover well with cold water and stir in 1 tablespoon of vinegar and 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until nicely tender but not mushy. This will take anywhere from 7-15 minutes – some potato varieties cook faster than others, so test often. Drain well, and immediately pour remaining vinegar over the potatoes. Let cool to room temperature.

In a large bowl, whisk together the yogurt, Vegenaise, olive oil, Dijon mustard and sugar. Stir in the remaining ingredients, adding salt and pepper to taste. Add potatoes to the bowl and gently mix. Serve at room temperature.

Serves 10