This recipe began as an effort to use up roasted potatoes and green beans that I had served with a slow cooker pot roast the night before. It was inspired by a recipe for a French potato and green bean salad I remember making on repeat when I was in university, I’ve often though of it but until now have yet to recreate it. I added in the crispy bits of roasted bacon as an extra flourish, the salty bite of the pork combines with the acidic tang of the red wine vinegar with serendipitous results. When I make potato salads with an oil and vinegar based dressing I like to up the ratio of oil to vinegar so that they are 1:1, the starchiness of the potatoes seems to absorb some of the shock from what otherwise might be a too tart dressing. Other things I’ve added to this salad include romaine lettuce, capers, tinned Italian tuna in olive oil, chickpeas, and Adzuki beans. Although this should rest for a few minutes after it’s prepared, know that the texture of the potatoes begins to deteriorate fairly rapidly after the dressing is applied (although it just turns into a delicious albeit slightly softer leftover lunch.)

roasted potato salad with green beans and bacon:

1 lb. small red skinned potatoes

1 lb. green beans, lately I’ve been sing hericots verts because the little grocery store by my house has been selling them for a great price

3 slices of bacon, cut into a small dice

Grapeseed or vegetable oil

2 shallots, thinly sliced

1 cup of flat leaf parsley, roughly torn

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1/3 cup olive oil

1 tsp. Dijon mustard

Kosher salt

Freshly cracked black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Arrange the potatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet, drizzle generously with grapeseed or other neutral oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 minutes before adding the green beans and bacon to the pan, stirring to coat with oil before roasting for another 20-25 minutes.

2. Transfer to a large bowl and let the potatoes, green beans, and bacon come to room temperature before continuing with the recipe or refrigerate for future use. Slice the roasted potatoes and green beans into smaller pieces before adding in the shallots and parsley.

3. Whisk together the red wine vinegar, olive oil, Dijon mustard, kosher salt, and freshly cracked pepper before pouring the salad dressing over the potatoes and green beans and allow to sit for at 15 minutes before serving either cold or at room temperature.

In this particular instance, I served the salad with grilled cheese made from the leftover shredded pot roast and 3 year old Isle. aux Grues cheddar.

I have found a new musical infatuation! Snowbird sounds like a slightly folksy and simultaneously shoegazey version of the Cocteau Twins with an English translation (as it should be, former member Simon Raymonde has a shining place in this band.) The whole record is lovely and ethereal and I genuinely found it difficult to choose a favourite song for this entry, I think at the moment this would be the most listened to song on the album (although this is actually part of an included remix album of Moon.)

Snowbird – Porcelain (RxGibbs remix)