Potato Salad for a Swiss Street Party (Strassenfest)

We have a lovely tradition in Switzerland: An annual street party. 

The street is closed from traffic, and parking is prohibited for almost two days and the kids can roam freely without having to worry about cars.

Benches and tables are provided for free by the municipality and the local people carry tiny grills to the street, and then everybody brings a few common dishes plus their own BBQ food, usually sausages and steaks.

I decided to contribute with a potato salad.

Starting ingredients:

Boiled potatoes

Hard-boiled eggs

Gherkins

Mayo

Peas

Green bell pepper

Yellow apples

Spring onions

Parsley

Chives

Dill

Method:

Peel and chop potatoes and eggs once cooled. 
Cube the gherkins, apples and the bell pepper. 
Slice onion, keep stalks for later. 
Also keep the gherkin jar without pouring out the liquid.

At one point in time I realized I had too many potatoes but not enough mayo.

I decided to go for two versions, one mild and one strong so I got out one additional bowl and divided the mix, added all the mayo into the mild-one to be and and pepped up the strong-one to be with jalapeno and chili powder.

The mild version was good by now but the strong one was still missing something, so I decided to add some home-made aioli to compensate for the mayo.

Quick guide to home-made aioli:

Two egg yolks, one teaspoon mustard, two teaspoons vinegar, olive oil, lemon pepper and salt is mixed together and at the end crushed garlic is added.

Keep the egg whites for a next-day omelet. Any left-over potatoes can be used to make a Spanish Omelet.

Pour aioli on top.

The strong version was too strong even for my taste so I added some more potatoes and mixed in the peas that I had originally planned for the mild version. And I made a warning sign.

Now a quick check on the street party action…

…no action so far, only kids playing in the street. It started to rain a little, but hopefully the skies will clear towards the evening.

Remember the gherkin jar? Slice fresh cucumber and pickle them, together with any parsley or dill left overs. 

Nice to use on sandwiches or in salads.

..but now I’m off to the street party –running late already. I'll just grab the mild version and go.