Mini Potato Salad

Ok, I am on a salad recipe roll these days, but honestly, it is HOT outside, and there is nothing I prefer more than a refreshingly COLD salad straight from the fridge on a day as hot as we have been having. Honestly, today it feels about 40C. I almost passed out pushing the stroller on the way home from the park this morning, and that was 10am. Crazy times, but I love it! I would take heat and humidity any day over snow and ice - hands down! No complaints about the weather from me.

So potato salad. This is one of those family of salads I tend to suck at making. I over cook the potatoes, I tend to always  under-season it, I add too much dressing, you name it, I have done it to the humble potato salad.

Walking through Loblaws the other day I saw these mini multi-coloured potatoes (no comments on buying local..it's too hot to venture out...sorry farmers) and couldn't resist them. I used to buy them, but the supply was so erratic you never knew if they would be in stock so you couldn't plan for them. Now I see them piled high next to mini red skin and mini white potatoes, all in the same convenient 1.5lb package. Yay for convenience! When fingerlings are in season, they are side by side these potatoes too.

I wasn't sure if the brilliant purple hued variety would bleed into my white potatoes and I would end up with a grey mess, but luckily they stayed their own fabulous colour. Perhaps a creamy dressing isn't the best to showcase the gorgeous colours, but what a nice surprise biting into a piece of potato and finding out it's purple on the inside. Love it!

Like the pickles? That's my husband. I asked him to make dinner one night, he made potato salad with all kinds of stuff in it - even the pickles, which I have grown to love.

And again, I am rumaging through the bottom of the fridge for ingredients, but they all work together majestically in this recipe.

Mini Potato Salad

Makes 6-8 serves

1.5lbs potatoes, cut into 1 inch pieces

5 slices of bacon, roasted then chopped

3 green onions, chopped

1 piece celery, diced

1/2 red pepper, diced

3-4 sour pickles, diced (not the sweet ones, I used cornichons)

1/3 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup sour cream

2 teaspoons dijon mustard

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

salt & pepper, to taste

Boil potatoes in salted water until tender, drain and set aside to cool. Place in the refrigerator until cold.

Meanwhile, prepare all the other ingredients and combine in a large bowl. Mix well.

When potatoes are cold, combine with dressing and other ingredients. Season well - be careful of adding too much salt, as the bacon, pickles and mayonnaise all are quite salty.

This salad tastes amazing the next day too, so if you needed to, it could be prepared a day ahead.

Enjoy!