Earls Potato Salad

    

In  June my family visited Whistler, British Colombia.  My family was kind enough to take the child with them when they went on a hike.  This left us to enjoy a day in the village by ourselves.  We decided to have lunch at Earls.   The whole experience was great and the food was fantastic and now has become a measuring stick of restaurant/ food quality for us.

 In order for the significance of this monumental event to sink deep, it is important to understand my extreme dislike for Mayo and or Miracle whip. Can't stand it.  I don't like the texture, flavor or even the smell of it.  As such, I don't eat traditional potato salad.  (Also, mustard, pickles and  hard boiled eggs also make me want to vomit.)   When I ordered my meal it came with two sides and I got the potato salad as one of them,  one because the others didn't sound to appetizing and what the waitress described didn't sound horrible.

It looked nothing like the yellow paste that is found at 4th of July parties and other summer picnics.   It had large pieces of potato, grilled corn, bacon, cheese, chives, and a mysterioso white sauce.  With trepidation I took a bite and was pleasantly surprised and continued till I ate the whole dish.  I set out to figure out what the sauce was made of.  Much to my dismay Earls wouldn't tell me.  But, the following is pretty darn close to what we ate there, and even if it isn't exact it is still so yummy.  For family dinner our fall back was bringing Jell-O salad (The yummy one described in a previous post),  but that is going to have to take a back seat for a while in lieu of this gem.   Enjoy.

  1 1/2 lb  baby/fingerling/ petite potatoes  (The small ones.  Do not use baking potatoes. The starch content is to high and will turn to mush.

  1 cups corn (frozen, fresh, canned - doesn't matter)

  3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed.  (pre chopped garlic works great too)

  2 tablespoons olive oil

  Salt and freshly ground pepper

  1/2 pound sliced bacon

  1/3 cup mayonnaise (I use light mayo)

  1/3 cup sour cream

  1/2 tablespoon lemon juice

   Dash dill to taste  (fresh or dried)

  1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

  2 Tbs cup melted butter or a few tablespoons of reserved bacon grease (totally optional, but it adds A LOT of yumminess to the salad)

  Sliced chives or green onions, for garnish

 Preheat the oven to 425 F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or tin foil and set aside.  Cut the potatoes in half or into bite size nuggets.  Mix the potato, corn, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper in a bowl.  Mix well, be gentle.  Spread the mixture onto the cooking sheet.  

 Roast the potatoes at 425 for about 30-40 minutes, or until they begin to turn golden. 

 Cook the bacon using your preferred method.  We cook ours in the oven on a broiler sheet.  When it is done, set aside about 1 TBS of the bacon grease if you are going to add it to the dressing, if not discard as usual.  Cut into large pieces, about the size of an adult thumb nail. 

In  medium bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon juice, dill, parmesan cheese and the melted butter or bacon grease.  ( I don't recommend using both butter and grease)  Stir well to combine.

When the potatoes are tender, remove from the oven.  If you used whole garlic cloves take them out and finely mince or smash them.  Add the garlic to the sour cream mixture.  If you used pre-cut garlic, disregard adding more garlic to the sauce.  Adjust seasonings of the dressing if necessary.

Mix potato and corn mixture with the now not so mysterioso white dressing.  Add bacon. Mix well....gently.  Sprinkle with chopped chives.  Serve warm, and if by some miracle there are left overs... eat them.    You can also share with your friends or chill and eat cold.