My Favorite Potato Salad

Ingredients

• 3 lbs. Yukon Gold, baby potatoes or small red potatoes
• a good dash salt
• 4 – 6 large eggs 
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise (or more if you like it gloppy)
• 1 Tbsp spicy brown mustard 
• 1 Tbsp sweet relish (or more if you like)
• 1/4 cup roasted red peppers, chopped or diced
• 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar 
• good pinch of sugar
• 1/2 tsp seasoned salt
• about 5-6 grinds of the black pepper mill
• 1/2 cup finely diced onion (sweet onions like Vidalias or Walla Wallas if you can get them)
• 2 green onions (scallions)
• 3 ribs celery
• paprika or smoked paprika

Instructions

• Peel, wash, and chop your potatoes into cubes, not too small. About an inch or so. Too small and they fall apart while cooking. Too large and people need a knife to eat your potato salad. You don’t have to peel the tiny red potatoes or the baby potatoes unless you want to. Place the potatoes in a large pot, rince twice, and cover with fresh cold water. Add salt to the water and bring it to a boil over high heat. Boil the potatoes until they are tender. Pierce the potatoes with a fork or the tip of a sharp knife to make sure they are tender, then drain. Briefly rinse with cool water to cool the potatoes.
• While the potatoes are boiling, cook the eggs. Place the eggs in a small pot and cover them with cold water, then bring the water to almost boiling. You have to stand there and watch it. Turn off the heat, cover the pot with a lid and let the eggs sit in the hot water for about 10 minutes (or maybe 5 minutes more if you have a lot of eggs or you really want your yolks cooked. Any longer and you risk getting that nasty green ring around the yolks.) Pour out the hot water and cover the eggs in cool water to stop the cooking process. Once the eggs are cool enough to handle, peel and roughly chop the eggs.
• In the bowl you intend to make your potato salad in, stir together the mayonnaise, mustard, relish, red wine vinegar, seasoned salt, sugar and freshly ground pepper.
• Wash your celery and green onions. Peel your sweet onion. Cut the root and leaves off the celery.
• Finely dice the celery, and slice the green part off the tops of the scallions, separating the white part from the green part. Put the scallion bottoms (the white part) in the fridge for another dish.
• Add the cooked, cooled, and drained potatoes to the bowl with the mayonnaise mixture along with the diced celery, onion, diced roasted red peppers, and eggs. Stir gently until everything is combined.
• Sprinkle the top with the green part of the onions and some paprika (smoked is spicier). cover and chill until ready to serve.