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Home/Fourth of July/Baby Red Potato Salad with Applewood Smoked Bacon & Oregon Blue

Baby Red Potato Salad with Applewood Smoked Bacon & Oregon Blue

Baby Red Potato Salad with Applewood Smoked Bacon & Oregon Blue

The 4th of July is coming up fast, and on Independence Day, you will find me (as usual) at the Portland Waterfront Blues Festival on the balmy banks of the Willamette River.

Baby Red Potato Salad with Applewood Smoked Bacon & Oregon Blue

Imagine hearing the likes of James Cotton, Bobby Rush, Steve Miller Band, Charlie Musselwhite, Booker T, and Curtis Salgado—up close and personal. And along with the fabulous music, there is a colossal fireworks show at nightfall. I am a lucky lucky girl!

Baby Red Potato Salad with Applewood Smoked Bacon & Oregon Blue

But even though I am opting out of feeding family and friends on the 4th, there will still be a frig full of great things to eat over the rest of the vacation week and weekend.

Baby Red Potato Salad with Applewood Smoked Bacon & Oregon Blue

I will certainly whip up some of these dishes from past celebrations: Fourth of July Independence Day Roundup. But I also wanted to add a distinctive new potato salad to the usual repertoire, and this is the result.

Baby Red Potato Salad with Applewood Smoked Bacon & Oregon Blue

The only caveat I have about making this salad for a gaggle of eaters whose preferences you may not know, is that not everyone loves blue cheese. If you are unsure, present the blue cheese on the side, and let folks add it to their liking. The salad is very tasty even without it thanks to the applewood smoked bacon, melted onions, and Green Onion Mayonnaise.

Baby Red Potato Salad with Applewood Smoked Bacon & Oregon Blue

NOTE   I am working on a Homemade Mayonnaise post for those of you who have not yet ventured beyond the yellow, blue, and red jar. However, I encourage you to try your hand at making the mayonnaise below. It works perfectly every time and takes only a minute to make. You won’t believe the difference!

Baby Red Potato Salad with Applewood Smoked Bacon & Oregon Blue

Baby Red Potato Salad with Applewood Smoked Bacon & Oregon Blue

This is a potato salad with a difference. On a hot summer evening it makes a satisfying light meal; rich and creamy with a real flavor kick. Or take it to a picnic pot luck.

½-¾ cup Green Onion Mayonnaise (recipe below)

2 pounds baby red potatoes, steamed until barely tender, cooled, and halved or quartered, depending on their size

½ pound applewood smoked bacon (or other favorite bacon)
1 medium-size onion, chopped
½ cup Oregon Blue cheese, finely crumbled (2 ounces)
1 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more to taste
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste

¼ cup minced fresh parsley

  1. Make the Green Onion Mayonnaise, and chill.
  2. In a stovetop steamer or pasta pan with perforated insert, steam the potatoes until just barely tender, about 15 minutes. They will continue cooking as they cool, so undercook slightly.
  3. Cool, frig until well chilled, and then halve or quarter depending on their size. You should end up with bite-size chunks.
  4. While the potatoes are steaming, sauté the bacon in a skillet until evenly crisp. Remove to paper towels to drain, and pour off all but 3 tablespoons of the bacon fat.
  5. Sauté the onions in the fat for 5 minutes or so, just to sweeten and soften a bit. Remove from the heat and let cool.
  6. In a large bowl, combine the chilled potatoes, ¾ of the crumbled bacon, onions with bacon fat, and cheese.
  7. Toss gently to combine, then sprinkle on the salt and black pepper. Distribute evenly.
  8. Fold the mayonnaise gently into the potato mixture with a rubber spatula and season to taste with more salt, pepper, and lemon juice if needed.
  9. Chill for at least an hour or two before serving.
  10. Just before serving, fold in the chopped parsley and garnish with the remaining bacon.

Serves 6.

Green Onion Mayonnaise

This method takes under a minute and produces consistently great results. One cup of oil produces a light textured mayonnaise, while 1½ cups of oil produces a heavy, thick mayonnaise. For this dish, it’s best to stay on the light side.

NOTE   If you need to save time or work, simply fold the finely minced onion, parsley, and garlic into premium-quality, store-bought mayonnaise, such as Best Foods.

NOTE   You will not need all of this mayonnaise. Us the remainder for sandwiches or in a myriad of other dishes.

2 tablespoons white wine or rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon fine sea salt, or to taste
½ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper, or to taste

1 large, fresh egg, cool room temperature

1-1½ cups flavorless vegetable oil, in a measuring cup with a pouring spout or squeeze bottle (a small amount of olive oil may be used, if desired)

2 green onions, chopped
small handful flat leaf parsley, stems removed
2 cloves garlic, peeled, ends trimmed

  1. In a smallish processor (7-9 cup capacity), fitted with the steel blade, process the vinegar or lemon juice with salt, pepper, and mustard until well combined.
  2. Add 1 whole egg, and process to incorporate.
  3. With the machine running, drizzle the oil through the open feed tube, until all the oil is incorporated. (The easiest way to do this is to pour the oil into the feed tube insert with the machine running. When all of it has dripped into the developing mayonnaise, fill the insert with the remaining oil.). Do not over process.
  4. Taste and adjust the seasonings, adding a little more vinegar if necessary. Remove from the processor and reserve.
  5. In the same bowl, with the same steel blade, process the onion, parsley, and garlic as finely as possible. Add a scoop of the mayonnaise and process to blend well. Remove from the processor and fold into the remaining mayonnaise.
  6. Mayonnaise should be stored, covered, in the warmest part of the refrigerator. It will keep for about 1 week.

Makes 1-1½ cups.

More 4th of July Inspiration from Around the Web

A quick jaunt through my RSS feed of over 300 favorite food blogs, yielded the following inspiring ideas for this year’s festivities. I’m sure this is just the tip of the iceberg. Share your own 4th of July picks in the comments. God bless America and American cooks!

  • Almond Corner: Strawberry Crumble Ice Cream
  • Apple a Day: Blueberry Ice Cream
  • Ezra Pound Cake: Mustard Rubbed Ribs on the Grill
  • Food Nouveau: Asian Cole Slaw with Wasabi Dressing
  • KCET Food: Chinese-Style Barbecued Spareribs
  • Leite’s Culinaria: Blueberry Crumble
  • Local Milk: Buttermilk Brined Fried Chicken
  • Not Your Momma’s Cookie: Strawberry and Blueberry Shortcake
  • Savory Sweet Life: Tomato Basil Mozzarella Salad
  • Some the Wiser: Cranberry Zinger
  • Two Peas & Their Pod: Blueberry, Strawberry & Jicama Salsa
  • What’s on My Plate: Art Smith’s Fried Chicken

Additional Reading

  • Cooking and Eating in Chicago: The Bacon List—Broadbent’s Original Hickory Smoked
  • Cooking and Eating in Chicago: The Bacon List—Niman Ranch Applewood Smoked
I Love Hearing from You!

If you have read this far, please leave a comment. Include your blog URL and CommentLuv will automatically link back to your most recent blog post. Let’s get cooking! …Susan

Copyright 2011 Susan S. Bradley. All rights reserved.

Written by:
Susan S. Bradley
Published on:
July 1, 2012

Categories: Fourth of July, Salads, Spring & Summer Salads, Summer SizzleTags: 4th of July, applewood smoked bacon, baby red potatoes, Green Onion Mayonnaise, Independence Day, Oregon Blue cheese, picnics, recipe, salads, Summer Sizzle

About Susan S. Bradley

Intrepid cook, food writer, culinary instructor, creator of the LunaCafe blog, author of Pacific Northwest Palate: Four Seasons of Great Cooking, and former director of the Northwest Culinary Academy.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. heather

    June 26, 2015 at 9:21 am

    what a way to kick up plain old potato salad – LOVE the bacon and blue cheese combo

  2. Lauren

    June 26, 2015 at 4:33 am

    What a fabulous potato salad! That green onion mayo sounds divine. I can already tell I’ll be making this this weekend.

  3. pam

    June 26, 2015 at 4:27 am

    Bacon in potato salad!!! Why didn’t I think of that?

  4. Michelle

    June 26, 2015 at 12:22 am

    Rest assured if you invite me over when you make this, I will gobble it up, I love every single component of this dish.

  5. Des

    June 25, 2015 at 11:25 pm

    What a great potato salad! I grew up in Vancouver, and I Just love being in that area during the 4th. So many wonderful memories at the Fort Vancouver 4th of July celebration!

  6. Christine

    March 31, 2015 at 6:46 am

    Scrumptious. I hate using store bought mayo but have never tried to make it myself. I mostly just avoid recipes that include it. This could all change now!

  7. Michelle

    March 31, 2015 at 12:33 am

    I could just take my fork and dig right in. What wonderful flavors you’ve got in here.

  8. Judy Piotrowski

    July 14, 2012 at 7:23 pm

    Made this tonite–it Rocks!!! Thank you!!

    • Susan S. Bradley

      July 16, 2012 at 10:47 am

      Judy, thanks for letting us know, much appreciated! 🙂

  9. Randy Wintle

    July 4, 2012 at 9:27 am

    I just made this for today, it is absolutely delicious! Best potato salad I have ever had. Thanks for the great recipe.

    • Susan S. Bradley

      July 6, 2012 at 1:49 pm

      Wow, Randy, thank you, and I am honored that you visited the site. I did a double-take on your name. 🙂

  10. Kevin

    July 2, 2012 at 5:03 pm

    This is one tasty sounding potato salad!

  11. Kate

    July 2, 2012 at 12:50 pm

    There can’t be anything better than the combination of bacon and blue cheese! Your salad looks wonderful!

  12. Feast on the Cheap

    July 2, 2012 at 7:44 am

    What a fabulous 4th of July treat! You have my mouth watering over here…

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  1. Warm Spinach Mushroom Salad with Bacon Honey Dressing says:
    December 30, 2014 at 5:40 pm

    […] Baby Red Potato Salad with Apple­wood Smoked Bacon & Ore­gon Blue […]

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Susan S. Bradley

Intrepid cook, food writer, culinary instructor, creator of the LunaCafe blog, author of Pacific Northwest Palate: Four Seasons of Great Cooking, and former director of the Northwest Culinary Academy. Read More…

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