Creamy Potato & Mushroom Salad

Potato salad gets a smart upgrade with the addition of thinly sliced raw mushrooms. They bring an earthy, almost meaty depth that the usual celery-and-egg salad lacks. The mushrooms stay raw, so they keep that crisp, slightly chewy bite all the way through to the leftover-the-next-day stage.

The dressing skips the usual sweet relish route and goes savory: two tablespoons of Dijon mustard for tang and bite, just a quarter cup of mayonnaise to bind, no more. The Dijon does most of the work and lets the vegetables actually taste like vegetables.

The vinegar splash hits the warm potatoes first, before they cool. That’s a French bistro trick. Hot potatoes drink in vinegar like sponges, and the acid penetrates all the way through instead of just coating the outside.

Pro Tips

• Use small new potatoes or red skin potatoes. They hold their shape after boiling, while baking potatoes turn to mush.
• Sprinkle vinegar on the potatoes while they’re still warm, then let them cool. This is the single biggest move for a flavorful potato salad.
• Slice the mushrooms thin and add them right before serving. Mushrooms release water and turn slimy if they sit in the dressing too long.
• Use white button or cremini mushrooms. Mature portobellos can have a darker, gilled flavor that takes over.

Variations

• Add a tablespoon of capers or chopped dill pickles for a briny punch.
• Stir in a quarter cup of plain Greek yogurt in place of half the mayo for a lighter dressing.
• Toss in a handful of crisp crumbled bacon for a German-inspired warm potato salad twist.