Most potato salad recipes begin with boiling the potatoes. But if you already have the grill heated up to BBQ, it's easy to roast potatoes over the coals at the same time. These potatoes acquire lots of great smoky flavor, and if you smash them up a bit with some mayonnaise, lime juice, and cumin, and toss in some green onions and maybe some parsley or cilantro, you get a very delicious and unique potato salad in no time at all. It's a handy trick for when the power goes out and you have to cook everything on the grill, or for when you are camping.
I like to use small (1-2 inch diameter) potatoes - a mixture of yukon gold, red new potatoes, and blue potatoes makes a nice combination. Smaller potatoes cook faster, though you could also cut large potatoes into quarters before roasting them.Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes
Yield: Serves 4-6 as a side dish.
Ingredients:
- 3 pounds assorted small potatoes, or larger potatoes cut into 2-inch wedges
- 8-10 cloves garlic
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin seed, or 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1-2 teaspoons kosher salt (to taste)
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup sour cream or greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- Juice of 1-2 limes, or to taste
- 2-3 green onions, chopped
- Chopped parsley or cilantro for garnish
- Salt and pepper
Preparation:
- Preheat the grill. Wash the potatoes if needed. Place them in a large bowl.
- Mince the garlic and add it to the potatoes, along with the olive oil, cumin, kosher salt, and pepper. Toss with the potatoes to mix well.
- Seal the potatoes up tightly in a double layer packet of foil. You may want to make several smaller packets, in order to fit everything on the grill.
- Place the potatoes on a rack above the coals for quick cooking (20-25 minutes) or even directly on top of the coals if you need the grilling rack space for other things (such as grilled cumin-lime chicken or carne asada, both of which would go well with these potatoes). If the packets go directly on the coals, the potatoes will have a much stronger smoky flavor and the skin of the potatoes may burn slightly. Alternatively, place potatoes off to the side of the grill, where they will cook more slowly with indirect heat, freeing up the direct heat for grilling meat. The potatoes are ready when they can be pierced very easily with a fork. (You can also roast the potatoes in the oven, in a baking dish, covered with foil, at 400 degrees for about 35 minutes).
- Remove potatoes from the heat and empty them back into the bowl. Squeeze the lime juice over them, and add the sour cream and mayonnaise (I like to use the Latin-style mayonnaise that has lime). Use a potato mashed to gently smash the potatoes until they broken down a bit but still chunky. Gently mix in the green onions and taste for seasoning. Add more mayonnaise, sour cream, lime juice, and/or salt and pepper to taste.
- Garnish with chopped parsley or cilantro and serve warm.
