Hygge in the Summer Sunshine
Today’s recipe post is perfect for summertime, barbeques, and big dinners with plenty of family and friends. There is nothing better on a warm summer day than good food and drinks with the people you love. In Scandinavian culture, we greatly value spending time outside in nature, enjoying other people’s company, and eating and drinking. We call this “hygge” in Danish – you can read more about summer hygge in our blog post entitled “‘Hygge’ – Not Just For The Wintertime!”. It is a key part of Danish culture and brings us so much joy during this time of year.
Today’s Recipe
Anyway, today’s recipe is all about summertime, freshness, and sharing with others. No dish belongs at a barbeque or summer dinner party more than kartoffelsalat, or potato salad! It is so easy and customizable and luckily, most people like potatoes, so you can be sure it will be a hit! We have two versions of potato salad on our blog, and you can find the other one, our “Creamy Potato Salad”, here at this link. We developed this version for those who like potatoes but not the addition of mayo/sour cream/yogurt. The dill, parsley, and lemon add a wonderful freshness and zing to the hearty chunks of potatoes. We, being Danish, love potatoes more than most things in this world, and the addition of herbs and spices makes them even tastier in this recipe.
Assembling Your Kartoffelsalat
To prepare this dish, the steps are quite simple. Start by boiling your potatoes. We used medium-sized red potatoes but actually, smaller ones would probably work even better if you can get your hands on some! They tend to be less grainy and floury after being cooked so they hold up best in a potato salad like this one. Do not overcook your potatoes – pay close attention to them! Then allow the potatoes to cool and combine with the rest of your ingredients. That’s it! We hope you try it out, we can promise that it’s delicious and a wonderful side dish for any summer event.
Kartoffelsalat (Herb Potato Salad)
Ingredients
- 1.4 kg (3 lbs) potatoes (we used medium sized red potatoes, but small potatoes work very well too!)
- 5-6 green onions
- 60-120 ml (1/4-1/2 cup) olive oil
- 2 tbsp lemon juice (juice from half a lemon)
- Lemon zest from one lemon
- 3 tbsp chopped fresh dill
- 1/2 bunch fresh parsley, finely chopped
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Prep potatoes by washing and cutting into 1 – 1.5 inch cubes. If using small potatoes, you can leave them whole or cut them in half to keep the size consistent!
- Add potatoes to a large pot of cold water. Bring to a boil, then boil until the potatoes are just tender enough to poke with a fork easily – if you leave them for too long, they could fall apart!
- Drain potatoes and set them aside to cool.
- While the potatoes are cooling, prep herbs by chopping dill, parsley, and green onions.
- When the potatoes have cooled, combine the potatoes, olive oil, lemon juice, herbs, lemon zest, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Add more olive oil if necessary and make sure to taste for seasoning!
- You can make this ahead of time and keep in the fridge to serve later in the day! Serve as a side dish to your favorite main dishes – enjoy!
