With the certainty of clear skies ahead, planning and attending a picnic is a wonderful family activity. Potato salads, slaws, barbecued beans and fresh-from-the-orchard fruit salads are all portable, appetizing and impervious to long afternoons on a picnic table.

Any picnic maven knows potato salad is key to a perfect picnic menu. To many of us, a salad that contains even one small potato is, quite simply, potato salad. To determine the salad’s ethnic character, we must look at its accompanying ingredients. Mayonnaise is usually the common denominator that holds it all together.

A scattering of peas, slivers of sun-dried tomatoes, pungent greens and tasty black olives give this beloved side dish a fresh and contemporary take.

Note to the cook: I have found waxy potatoes (red bliss, yellow creamers, white rose, fingerlings) a better choice for salads. The russet, baking or Idaho potato is mealier and will sometimes crumble while tossing ingredients together.

Herbed Potato Salad with Sweet Peas

Serves 8

Dressing

1⁄4 cup chopped shallots

2 Tbs. chopped dill

1 Tbs. chopped tarragon

3 Tbs. chopped parsley

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 Tbs. Dijon mustard

5 Tbs. white wine vinegar

3⁄4 cup olive oil

salt and pepper

3 lbs. small red potatoes

1 lb. shelled peas, fresh or frozen, cooked just until tender

Whisk together all dressing ingredients until well blended. Set aside.

Cook potatoes in large pot of boiling salted water, about 15 minutes. Drain. When cool enough to handle, cut into quarters.

In large bowl, toss the still warm potatoes with about half the dressing and let cool. Combine with peas and add remaining dressing. Add salt and pepper to taste.

New York Deli Potato Salad

Serves 8

Dressing

1⁄2 cup mayonnaise

3 Tbs. white vinegar

1 Tbs. yellow mustard

1⁄2 tsp. salt

1⁄4 tsp. freshly ground pepper

2 pounds small red potatoes, peeled, cooked and sliced

4 green onions, sliced

3 celery stalks, sliced

2 hard boiled eggs, sliced

1 Tbs. fresh dill, chopped

Combine dressing ingredients. In a large bowl toss dressing with remaining ingredients.

New-Fashioned Potato Salad

Serves 8-10

Dressing

1⁄2 cup dry white wine

1 Tbs. Champagne vinegar

1⁄2 tsp. salt

1⁄4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1 Tbs. Dijon mustard

1 tsp. fresh rosemary leaves, chopped fine or 1⁄2 tsp, dried

1⁄2 cup olive oil

2 lbs. small red potatoes, cooked, cooled and sliced

1⁄2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and cut into thin strips

1⁄2 cup imported black olives, pitted and halved

1 small fennel bulb, trimmed and cut into thin strips

3 scallions, thinly sliced

In a small bowl whisk together dressing ingredients.

In a large bowl combine potatoes, tomatoes, olives, fennel and scallions. Toss with dressing. Taste for salt and pepper. Garnish with a rosemary sprig.

Louise Fiszer is a Palo Alto cooking teacher, author and the co-author of “Jewish Holiday Cooking.” Her columns alternate with those of Rebecca Ets-Hokin. Questions and recipe ideas can be sent to j. or to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).