Best potato salad. Ever.

As promised, I'm back with the recipe for the potato salad that was served at our wedding. Now, I've never been a fan of traditional potato salad. Always too much mayo and weird flavors that I never enjoyed. But when my aunt first introduced me to this potato salad; clouds parted and angels sang. Seriously, it's that good. 

Sorry if this post is wordy. It's my first recipe post and I want to make sure I don't leave anything out!!

Potato Salad with Haricots Verts, Roquefort and Bacon

Serves 6

 

2 pounds of red skinned potatoes, quartered

8 tablespoons Mustard Vinaigrette (see below)

2/3 cup crumbled Roquefort cheese (honestly- I use any type of blue cheese and it works fine)

1/2 pound of green beans, trimmed

1/3 cup crumbled bacon (you can also use toasted walnuts)

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
• Quarter the red skinned potatoes (or just chop them up so they are all about the same size. You don't want super small pieces, but you also don't want anything huge).
• Mix the potatoes with a little bit of the mustard vinaigrette (below). You don't want the potatoes swimming in it, but enough to coat them all. 
• Spread the potatoes on a baking sheet (I used to 9x13 pans to make sure they were spread out).
• Bake until fork tender and golden brown- about 20-30 minutes. Stir a few times during the baking process to get even coverage 

I roasted the potatoes the night before and put them in a metal bowl in the fridge until I was ready to mix the potato salad the next day. This worked great, especially since it was a little time consuming, and works well while watching the Bachelor on a Monday night :)

• Bring a small pot of water to a bowl
• Trim the green beans, and cut into bite size pieces.
• Put the green beans in the bowling water for about 5 minutes. The crispiness of the green beans is a perfect addition to the potatoes.
• Strain and run cold water over the beans to stop the cooking process- no mushy green beans here!

Mustard Vinaigrette

Yields about 1 1/2 cups

 

1/4 cup Dijon mustard

3 Tablespoons white wine vinegar

3/4 cup olive oil

2/3 cup chopped shallots

2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary

1 teaspoon chopped fresh sage

 

• Mix the mustard and vinegar in bowl.
• Gradually whisk in oil.
• Mix in shallots and herbs.
• Season with salt and pepper.  

The vinaigrette can be made 1 day ahead of time. Just keep it in the fridge, and bring it back to room temperature before you use it. 

When all the different steps are complete, mix together the potatoes, green beans, bacon, blue cheese and 8 tablespoons of the mustard vinaigrette. 

It's great served right away or even the next day! I made it with pulled pork sandwiches, and it was delicious. No mayonnaise-y potato salad here.

mmm. Delish.