Curried Potato Salad With Zucchini and Chives

With July 4, one of the high holy grilling days, at hand, Alyce is having a BBQ tomorrow! And so are our friends who had the Memorial Day BBQ for which The Rob and I smoked a pork shoulder. (Turns out that smoking is highly addictive: Since then The Rob has been over there almost every weekend for a smoking adventure such as ribs, brisket, or chicken… and for tomorrow they’re attempting a Pastrami Project.)

Since Alyce’s BBQ starts at 3 pm and our other friends’ at 6 pm, I’m planning to two-time them by bringing the same potato salad. Except I was at the Grand Army Plaza greenmarket today and I saw some lovely-looking little zucchinis, so I decided on a whim to get one and shred it into the Alyce-BBQ-bound potato salad, because, why not?

The zucchini was small, and I correctly guessed that it would not really have any seeds to speak of; if you use a larger, seedy one, I would probably scoop the seeds out of it. I used one zucchini, but I would use two next time to make the flavor and texture stand out more.

I proportioned this recipe for about 5 pounds of potatoes, but obvi, you could multiply it as you like.

Drop into a big pot of boiling salted water, on high:

• 4-5 lbs. Idaho potatoes, peeled and cut into 2"-ish wedges (you could also use red potatoes, unpeeled and quartered)

You’re going to cook these until a fork will easily go through a piece, drain them, and toss them in a large bowl with kosher salt and a couple splashes of olive oil. Then allow the taters to cool to at least room temperature. (You can stick them in the fridge if you like.) But that’s like 20 minutes away; once the potatoes are in the boiling water, start the remaining steps.

Grate coarsely:

• 1-2 small slender zucchini

Place the zucchini shreds into a fine-mesh metal strainer, set it on top of the potato-water pot, and cover. Steam for a few minutes and remove from pot. You could also drop the zucchini into a separate small pot of boiling water for like 30 seconds, then drain it. Or you could leave it raw if you like; I personally just don’t like raw zucchini.

Finely chop 1 small to medium bunch chives.

In a food processor or blender, combine and blend:

• 1 1/2 cups plain lowfat yogurt
• 3/4 cup mayo
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp paprika
• 3-5 garlic cloves
• 1/3 cup cilantro leaves (stems trimmed off)

Once the potatoes and zucchini are cooled, toss them together with the chives and dressing.

I would recommend letting this sit in the fridge for an hour or two, or even overnight, before tasting and adjusting seasonings accordingly. The dressing will seep into the potatoes and all the flavors will combine. At least, that’s the plan!

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