Not Your Usual Potato Salad

**Sorry for only 1 pic, took with my mobile phone as my camera battery was charging...


Isn't the potato an amazing starch?  You can mash 'em, fry 'em, bake 'em, boil 'em, add mashed to breads, put in stews and soups, etc, the list is endless! Not to mention that they go with whatever dish you are making.  I love picnic style food and potato salad happens to be one fantastic food for picnic style parties or just to have in the fridge when you want a quick satisfying bite.  I have many versions of potato salad and some include both sweet and regular potatoes, but those will be for another time.  A lot of ingredients in this one, but quick and easy to "assemble".  In Switzerland they only have one style potato, unlike the US with the many varieties, Red, Russet, Yukon Gold, Fingerling, Blue, etc.  Maybe there are other varieties here in specialty stores but I haven't seen any.  Bet you think this has a lot of mayo in it... not so!  I like to think outside the box when it comes to food, so the base of the sauce in this particular salad is Djion mustard!  So on to the recipe.  I think you will really enjoy!


What you need:
~About 7 Large potatoes in your favorite variety, washed.  In this recipe you will be leaving the skins on for extra texture and flavor! Here in Swiss land the potatoes don't come that big, so for my Swiss readers, it's roughly 1 bag of potatoes. =)
~1 Scallion chopped roughly
~1 Packet Splenda, OR up to 1 Tsp of sugar (just gotta' taste here)
~6 strips of bacon
~1 Tbsp dried onion pieces (optional)
~1 Tbsp Vinegar
~1/2 Cup Mild djion mustard
~1/8th-1/4 Cup Light Mayo (or the real deal, your choice)
~1 Tsp Balsamic vinegar
~1 Tsp salt (or to taste)
~ 1/4 Tsp Pepper (or to taste)
~ 1/2 Tsp Onion powder
~ 1/2 Tsp Garlic powder
~ Squeeze of half a lemon


Ok enough ingredients already! 


Let's get to work!
Preheat oven to 400F or 204C for my Swiss readers.
1) Place your potatoes in a pot of salted cold water and boil the potatoes for 15 minutes until slightly soft.  Remove from pot (tongs also come in handy here =) and place in a preheated oven and bake for about 45-50 minutes or until poked with a fork feel soft.  Why boil then bake?  Why not boil or just bake?  Well I'll tell you... I like the moisture the water adds to the potato and it produces a creamier tasting result, and I like the crispy skin that the baked potato produces, so I do both methods.  Maybe it's just the Swiss potatoes that need this method.  The skins are not too thick on Swiss potatoes, so I try to get the most flavor and texture out of them.  It's not truly necessary of course and is an extra step, but since this recipe includes the skins, boiling them alone will keep the skins soft and end up coming off the potato when you cube them up for the salad.  If you have good russet potatoes where you are, you can avoid the boil first step and LUCKY YOU!! =)
2) While the potatoes are baking, cut the bacon into bit size pieces, fry the bacon constantly stirring until very crispy, but be careful not to burn.  It cooks fast being so tiny.  You could fry in strips, but it just takes longer. Set aside.  
3) Place the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and stir until combined.  Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed to suit your tastes, then add half of the bacon bits.
4) Once potatoes are cooked, cool until you can handle them with your hands, then cut the warm potatoes in cube sizes being careful not to cut off the skins.  
5) Pour dressing on top of warm potatoes and this is an important step with the potatoes being warm so as they cool with the dressing, they soak it in much easier making it much tastier.  Top with additional scallions and the rest of the bacon bits and put in fridge until cooled.  Then enjoy and watch it disappear! =)