potato salad sans mayo

i find mayonnaise utterly disgusting. ditto for the miracle whip. you'll be surprised to know that despite being a true-blooded utahn, i don't care much for fry sauce. the reason for that is because 50 percent of the ingredients in fry sauce are comprised of mayo.

mayo is against my religion. let's think about what it is for a second... eggs and oil. whipped together. sick o rama! i have a very hard time with eggs, too. i will eat them if i cook them, but you won't see me eating a runny yolk egg or eating eggs with crispy brown skin on them. NASTO.

because of my hate for mayo, i've never really liked potato salad. add hard boiled eggs to potato salad and it's even worse. the double deadly combo: mayo AND hard cooked eggs?? mixed together??? i guess i don't have to tell you that i don't like egg salad sandwiches. besides the fact that egg salad takes two nasty ingredients and slams them together on bread with another oft-added nasty ingredient (pickles), it smells horrible.

saturday at the farmer's market, i bought some lovely new red potatoes and some fresh chives. i also bought a big bag of mixed greens. i had a package of hormel center cut bacon in my fridge waiting to be cooked... and i knew i wanted to make a potato salad to go with our steak and greens for dinner. i searched high and low for a recipe that i wanted, but couldn't find one that seemed to fit my needs. one had raw onions (meh...), one had flour stirred into bacon grease (icky) and many of them had mayonnaise.

i decided that i was going to be on my own... but i'd seen enough ingredients that i figured i could toss something together and it would be yummy.

i don't like to boil food - except for pasta. nothing kills flavor like boiling water (unless you're making coffee or tea...). so i knew i'd opt for roasting the potatoes. i realize that's not best on an 80 degree summer day, so i guess you could boil the potatoes, i just chose not to.

jenna LOVED this potato salad. paul had seconds. jake wasn't home, so he didn't get to weigh in.

roasted red potato salad (read entire recipe - ingredients are listed throughout)

*2 pounds new red potatoes
kosher salt
pepper
2 T olive oil

heat oven to 450 degrees F. wash potatoes, cut into quarters. spread cut potatoes on a cookie sheet (i use my pampered chef stoneware pan), drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. roast for 20-25 minutes. you want the potatoes to be tender, but not mushy. i rearrange all the potatoes so they are cut side down because i like the way it makes the sides crispy, but that's just me. it's not required.

1/2 cup sweet onion (or whatever kind of onion you have)
1/2 cup sliced celery
6-8 slices bacon

in a skillet, fry the bacon until crisp. remove bacon from the pan and pour off all but 1 T of the fat. reserve the poured off fat for use in the dressing. cook the onion in the bacon fat for about 10 minutes, or until the onions are soft and begin to darken. toss the celery in with the onions for the last 3-4 minutes of cook time. remove the pan from the heat. chop bacon into small pieces and set aside.

in a small bowl or mixing cup, prepare the dressing for the potatoes:

2 T balsamic vinegar
1 T bacon fat, from the reserved drippings
1 T Gulden's Spicy Brown Mustard
1 T brown sugar
2 T olive oil

whisk together the first 4 ingredients and then drizzle the olive oil in slowly while whisking briskly. taste the vinaigrette and correct seasons if needed. i don't add salt - the potatoes are salted and we'll be let's get ready to assemble this salad, shall we? you'll need one final ingredient:

small bunch of fresh chives, chopped (2-3 T ish)

when the potatoes are cooked, remove them from the oven and let them sit on the pan. when you are ready to make the salad, put the potatoes in a serving bowl and add the onions, celery, bacon and chives. give the vinaigrette a final whisk and pour over the salad. fold the dressing and the potatoes together until the potatoes are nicely coated. this should be served warm or at room temperature. if you don't have chives, i think using green onions would be lovely.

do you like potato salad? are you a lover of mayo? do you consider yourself a picky eater?