We’re winding down on the last three day holiday weekend of summer… and at this point between bdays, get-togethers and holidays, I’m starting to feel like we are entertaining every. single. weekend.

Y’all know I love a good food theme, but sometimes you just don’t have it in you. And sometimes, you don’t have time. And sometimes? A get-together just happens out of nowhere, with no time to prep or plan.

It’s these times where I tend to throw together a last minute potato salad. It’s the cleaning out the fridge version of entertaining side dishes, and uses kitchen staples you are likely to have on hand at any time.

First you need potatoes, russet, golden, red, baby… whatever kind you have. For this version, I used a 12 oz bag of tri-colored baby potatoes.

Key to making this fast is cutting the potatoes, before boiling, in small pieces. I even cut the super small baby potatoes in half.

Add the cut potatoes to cold water, with a heathy few pinches of salt. Bring to a boil, and let boil until potatoes are fork tender. This shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes once boiling.

I happened to have some hard-boiled eggs in the fridge, so i chopped up a few of them and tossed them in. If you have eggs, but not hard boiled, you can add them to the same cold water as the potatoes, and let them cook along with them… pulling the eggs out at exactly the 15 minute post boiling mark, and running them under cold water.

Drain potatoes, add to a boil, and stick in the freezer to chill while prepping your other ingredients.

First thing is some sort of onion, green, red, white, shallots, whatever you have on hand will work. I used green here, since I regrow mine, and always have some on the counter top.

I always like a good crunch, and had celery on hand, so in it goes. If you don’t have celery on hand, you can skip it. But… if you like the added flavor, you can add 1tsp of dried celery salt or seed to the mix.

Next up is some type of pickle element… again, butter pickles, dills, cornichons, even cucumbers will work in a pinch. What ever you’ve got, chop ‘em up and add ‘em in.

Let’s talk about the herbs. I had fresh dill and italian parsley on hand. I used more dill than parsley, but you want a couple of handfulls of fresh herbs… you could totally also use tarragon, basil, or cilantro here as well. And, if you don’t have fresh, then a couple tsps (taste for flavor) of the dried stuff. I always keep dried dill and italian parsley on hand for just this reason.

Gonna need some mustard - i had a grainy dijon on hand, so I used that this go ‘round. Regular dijon or course ground mustard will work as well. I would not suggest a yellow mustard instead.

And here’s where you need to make some choices, either based on personal preference - or on availability. Do you want a mayo based potato salad or a vinegar based potato salad?

If you’re gonna go with vinegar, you’re gonna want to go for a red, apple cider, or rice wine… one with a little sweetness. And I’d use 1/4 - 1/2 a cup, depending on taste. Then you’re gonna want to add about 2 Tbsp of a neutral oil. Avocado, vegetable, etc.

If you want a creamy vibe, you’ll want to add about 1/3 cup of mayo (plus or minus to your own preference) And if I have it on hand I add a couple of Tbsps of sour cream. I also add the juice of 1/2 a lemon for some acidity. Or lime. Whatever you’ve got on hand.

And that’s all there is too it, just add everything to the chilled bowl of potatoes (and maybe eggs, you do you), toss it all together and serve.