Now Being Served In Their Jackets

Here’s my twist when you want a little excitement in your spud life. This dish will produce a showy hot, warm, or cold potato salad.

Time to play with your food and your notions of potato salad. Let’s morph the tater and get your diners excited about a baker that becomes a salad!

FOLLOWING ARE THREE DRESSINGS: a vinegar, a mayo, and a German sweet-sour dressing

Serves 4

Amish Bayed Potato Salad:

INGREDIENTS:

• Russet potatoes – 4 medium, scrubbed
• olive oil – 4 TBS.
• cider vinegar – 4 tsp.
• salt – generous NOTE: potatoes need more salt than you think to bring out flavor!
• pepper – generous
• cheese – 4 TBS., grated, fontina, feta, parmesan, or blue cheese
• chives – for garnish, or parsley

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Preheat the oven to 400º
• Scrub the potatoes and using a paring knife, slice a 1/4-inch deep slit down the length, then go back to the center and slice a little deeper and insert a bay leaf. If the leaf is large, just cut or snap

• Bake for about an hour until tender [I temp it at 200º]
• Cut the potatoes through the slit in half and discard the bay leaves

• Using a blunt knife, like a butter knife, carefully slice potatoes so they have 1/4-inch cubes, cutting right down to but not through the skins

• In a small bowl combine the oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper
• Spoon the dressing over each potato, and top with cheese
• For a warm potato salad serve immediately with a garnish of chives or parsley
• For a hot version, put potatoes under the broiler for a few minutes, then garnish
• For room temperature, serve within an hour or so. If you wait longer, you may want to reheat for 5 minutes to re-soften the potato

Creamy Parmesan-Mayo Potato Salad:

• mayonnaise, 8 TBS
• Parmesan cheese, 4 TBS
• Italian herb blend, 1 tsp
• *Panko bread crumbs, 4 tsp, or dry bread crumbs

1. Prepare the dressing by combining the mayo, cheese, and herb blend
2. After the potatoes are baked and cubed, spread the dressing over each
3. Top with the bread crumbs
4. Heat oven to 425º and bake for another 30 minutes or so; until the topping has browned a bit
5. Top with fresh minced herb of choice

Warm Sweet-Sour Bacon Dressing

INGREDIENTS:

INSTRUCTIONS:

1- Crisp bacon: here’s my favorite way. Chop bacon and put in a cold skillet with 2 TBS water. Bring to a simmer and when water has evaporated turn down heat and cook until crisp. Remove bacon to a paper towel. The bacon is evenly crisped with this method

2- In a small bowl combine the sugar, vinegar, mustard, salt, pepper, and celery seed

3- Sauté the onion in the bacon drippings until soft, a few minutes

4- Add in the dressing and bring just to a simmer

5- Spoon the warm dressing over each cooked potato and top with bacon and parsley

© 2021 Bill Hettig