Bacon Potato Salad

When we made our delicious homemade mayo, we knew that we wanted to put it to work in another recipe. It would have been delicious slathered on BLTs, but we wanted to use it to elevate a summer picnic staple: potato salad. Oh, and speaking of BLTs, we threw in some mouthwatering bacon to the mix. (No homemade mayo in your fridge? No worries, Hellman's will do the trick too.)

To add an extra dose of summer freshness, we snipped some herbs from Sarah's garden: chives and lemon balm. If we'd had parsley, that would have been a nice option as well. Feel free to use whatever you have on hand.

The salty, crispy bacon is a critical player here. I'm pretty sure it was the bacon that made my husband, a notorious potato salad poo-pooer, say, "This is pretty damn good." Hey, can't argue with that.

Bacon Potato Salad

• 3 cups cubed red potatoes

• 6 slices bacon

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise

• 2 tsp dijon mustard

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1 tb lemon balm, chopped

• 1 tb chives, chopped

1. Boil potatoes until tender. Drain and set aside.
2. Meanwhile cook bacon until crisp. Let cool on paper towel-lined plate, and then crumble into small pieces.
3. Mix together mayo, mustard, and salt in a large bowl. Stir in potatoes, herbs, and finally bacon until just mixed. Refrigerate.

Lentil Goat Cheese Salad

Discs of plump brown lentils are tossed in a dijon vinaigrette alongside thinly sliced sweet carrots, fresh parsley, and tangy goat cheese. It’s the goat cheese crumbled over the top that makes this one special. And in second place is the dijon vinaigrette.

But honestly you can’t do without the sweetness of the carrots or the fresh parsley either. So don’t try to leave anything out, ok? I like this one because it’s a salad (toss everything together, exact quantities really don’t matter) and it can be served right away warm, or saved in the fridge and eaten cold anytime you want.

I got this from a Runner’s World a few years ago (so it is basically health food and appropriate for any of you marathon trainers out there). I don’t remember the exact recipe, but this is my rendition of it after making it many times over the years.

Lentil Goat Cheese Salad

• 1 cup brown (or Le Puy or Beluga) lentils, cooked
  
• 1 cup thinly sliced carrots (about 4 carrots)
  
• 1/2 cup chopped parsley
  
• 1/2 cup crumbed goat cheese
  
• 1/2 cup dijon vinaigrette (recipe below)

Cook the brown lentils in simmering water for approx 45 minutes, or until tender but not mushy.
Slice the carrots thinly, chop the parsley finely, add to a large bowl. Add warm cooked lentils, then drizzle the dijon vinaigrette over everything. Toss well, then sprinkle with crumbled goat cheese. Season with salt to to taste. Serve.

Dijon Vinaigrette

• 1/3 cup olive oil
  
• 2 Tbsp dijon mustard
  
• 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar

Whisk the mustard and red wine vinegar together in a large bowl, then continue to whisk as you drizzle in the olive oil. 

Roasted Potatoes with Lemon and Thyme

Here is a warm and wintry potato side dish brightened with the juice of half a lemon and seasoned with thyme. These potatoes would be equally at home served alongside a roast chicken as they would with some poached eggs for breakfast.

I love this recipe because, well, I love potatoes in pretty much all forms. But these potatoes are so delightfully crispy. And it is a fresh dish that uses ingredients that we usually have on hand. It didn't hurt that my toddler who is normally meh on potatoes (she must have been switched at birth) ate fistfuls.

Key points to remember for getting fabulously crisp potatoes: (1) preheat your oiled castiron skillet (or rimmed baking sheet), and (2) stir once while roasting. That's it really. This is a pretty darn easy recipe.

Roasted Potatoes with Lemon and Thyme

• 3 c. chopped potatoes (in large bite-sized pieces)
• 1 heaping teaspoon dried thyme (or fresh if you can get it)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• generous drizzle of olive oil (approx 3 Tbsp)
• juice of 1/2 lemon

Preheat oven to 425 F. Drizzle a little olive oil into a cast iron skillet (or rimmed baking sheet) and let the skillet preheat inside the oven. Drizzle the chopped potatoes with olive oil, salt, and thyme. Mix well, then juice the half a lemon over the potatoes.
Remove the preheated pan from the oven, dump the potatoes into the pan, toss in the squeezed lemon half, and put back in to bake for 35 minutes. Stir once halfway through to ensure more than one side of each potato gets golden brown.