Grilled Potato Salad with Bacon, Shallot and Brown Sugar

The first time I made this recipe was back in the late '90s, when my aunt, uncle and cousins were visiting Ottawa from Yarmouth, N.S. Wanting to veer away from the traditional mayonnaise based salad, we decided to try a recipe from Martha Stewart's Great Parties book. It's one of Martha's earlier books, but I still use it regularly. The recipe for Grilled Peach Chicken is a staple in our cottage cooking, just as this potato salad is.

Fifteen years after first making it, I've made several tweaks (the original recipe serves 14!) to the amount of oil and vinegar, and I always up the amount of bacon required.

In fairness, just because I cook more bacon, doesn't mean the bacon makes it into the salad. Sometimes quality control needs to ensure the freshness and... uhm... deliciousness of the bacon.

This potato salad is, compared to both the mayonnaise types and the German types, quite dry. And, that's the point. It's not meant to be swimming in dressing! It's a refreshing change from tradition and a great accompaniment to ribs and baked beans.

I've given amounts to serve 2-3 people. Adapt up as you see fit!

Grilled Potato Salad with Bacon, Shallots and Brown Sugar

(adapted from Martha Stewart's Great Parties)

Ingredients

1 lb red potatoes (new are especially nice), scrubbed
2 slices really good bacon
1 large shallot, peeled, halved lengthwise and sliced into half moons
1 tbsp + 1 tsp packed brown sugar
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp + 1 tsp olive oil, divided
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Place potatoes in a large pot of cold, salted water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are almost fork tender, amount 15 minutes (for large potatoes). You want to get them out just before, as you'll be finishing these off on the grill.

2. While potatoes are cooking, cook bacon in a skillet over medium-low heat until crispy. Remove bacon, and drain on a paper towel. Crumble and set aside. Pour off all but ½ tbsp of bacon fat from pan. Add shallot to pan and cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in brown sugar, cider vinegar and 1 tsp olive oil. Stir just until brown sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and set aside while you finish off the potatoes.

3. Remove potatoes from heat and cut into halves, if potatoes are small, or thick slices if potatoes are large. Try to leave the skin intact wherever possible! Brush with remaining 1 tbsp of oil and place on a greased grill to get brown and crispy, about 3 minutes on each side. Remove from heat. If you're using the thick slices, you may want to cut them again into bite sized quarters. Toss with reserved dressing and season with salt and pepper.

A fun way with potato salad

I won't lie to you. The pictures I have here aren't pretty. But, please don't let that turn you off of this potato salad! This is a very free form recipe, based on a Nigel Slater one from his book Tender I. I swear, I've never met a book that makes vegetables sound so sexy.

The secret ingredient? Walnut Oil.

Ingredients

2 large potatoes (or several small new potatoes), unpeeled and cut in 1 inch hunks.
3 slices meaty bacon
handful chopped parsely
1 tbsp dijon
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
3 tbsp walnut oil
healthy pinches of salt to taste
freshly ground pepper

Bring potatoes to a boil in cold, salted water. Reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are just tender. Meanwhile, cook up your bacon until crispy and drain it well. When cool enough to handle, break into pieces.

Now you're ready for the dressing!

Whisk 1 tbsp Dijon mustard with some salt (like I said, free form) in a medium bowl, add 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar, whisking thoroughly. Next comes the fun emulsifying part. Add in 3 tbsp walnut oil very slowly to the mix, whisking constantly. You'll find that it all comes together beautifully and thickens up like mayo! To this add heaps of freshly ground black pepper and a tbsp of water. Whisk. Whisk. Whisk.

It should be creamy and glossy when you're done.

Toss the potatoes together with the bacon and parsley, then stir in the dressing. Enjoy with a smile on your face... perhaps with leftovers!

Next up? A really lovely bulgar and cranberry salad!

Sunday Night Dinner

Sunday night is definitely a night for beef and potatoes. But, as its summer, the traditional roast beef just won't do.

I'm actually really excited about the two recipes I'm going to link you to today. Whenever I get to purchase new ingredients (Hello tamarind paste! Where have you been all my life?), I admit to being pretty enthused. The meal is heavy on flavours of lemongrass and coriander (or cilantro if you prefer).

I served it with edamame tossed with Kilauea Black Sea Salt and shichimi powder and some tofu kimchi dumplings.

Not too shabby looking, huh?

First up we have the beef recipe: Malaysian Beef Satay. Now, this recipe is really easy to put together, but does require access to some Asian markets (I actually couldn't find the galangal - so ginger it was). The only really annoying part was where it calls for 3 (yeah, that's right, THREE) macadamia nuts. Ridiculous. I had to march myself down to Whole Foods because that's the closest I can buy them unsalted and in bulk.

I've opted not to do the peanut sauce. I was feeling lazy. Having said that, I wish I had made it, because I think the contrast of flavours would have been ace.

 Satays on Potato Salad - note the angelic glow!

This brings to dish number two: Lemongrass & Ginger Potato Salad. Sesame oil, rice vinegar, ginger, lemongrass and jalapeno add some kick and while the cilantro and green onions add bright flavours. I loved that this wasn't a creamy salad. It definitely benefits from sitting for a while to absorb all the flavours. Delicious stuff though.