Not Your Mamma's Potato Salad

We had some friends come to visit this weekend. I always look forward to feeding my friends! Especially when I know they've journeyed a long way and will be arriving hungry. I of course want to spend as much time as possible catching up with my friends so hiding away in the kitchen is not what I want to do. It's always tricky to figure out what to fix because there are so many variables that can change the time of arrival. Often I go to the crock pot for these situations but it's summer and crock pot meals to me are not very summery. We decided that grilled steaks and corn would be easy to make. All the prep is done before they arrive and we just have to grill it up when we're ready to eat. What are your favorite foods to fix that you can prep ahead of time?

I wanted something else to go with our meal so I decided that potato salad would be perfect. It's something that I can fix the day before and the longer it sits the more the flavors develop. I was inspired by the glorious Paula Deen to try a new potato salad recipe that I would say is not the classic one your mamma makes. This recipe calls for Blue Cheese! It turned out great and was good both cold and at room temperature. I hope you'll try it out yourself and if you do let me know what you think.

Not Your Mamma's Potato Salad (click the title to print the original recipe from Paula Deen)

Gather your ingredients:

• one 5lb bag of potatoes ( I used Russet potatoes)
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic (minced)
• 1  1/2 teaspoon of salt
• ground pepper to taste
• 4 tablespoons of butter
• 1 large onion  ( I used Vidalia because they are in abundance right now)
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1  cup crumbled blue cheese
• 1 1/2 teaspoons horseradish sauce

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and line a pan with aluminum foil. I use a large cookie sheet that has sides.

Prepare your potatoes: wash and dry them, then cut into bite size pieces.

In a BIG bowl combine potatoes, olive oil, minced garlic, salt and pepper. Mix these ingredients until potatoes are coated.

If you don't have a grater you NEED one!
It's an easy way to mince garlic and can be used
for a variety of vegetables.

Place potatoes in a single layer on prepared pan and roast in the oven for 35 minutes, stirring occasionally. You want the potatoes to be tender and lightly browned.

While the potatoes are cooking  melt the butter over medium-high heat  in a large skillet and add the chopped onion. Cook the onions for 30 minutes or until golden in color. Lastly add the vinegar and stir until it evaporates.

This is what my onions looked like after 30 minutes.

Allow the potatoes and onions to cool for about 15 minutes and  make the blue cheese dressing while you wait. To do this combine mayonnaise, blue cheese, sour cream, horseradish and pepper.

This is a DELICIOUS dressing you could use on all kinds of stuff!

In a large bowl incorporate the onions, potatoes and dressing.

This dish can be served immediately or refrigerated. I like to serve it at room temperature. It's also great leftover and should last for about a week.

I added some fresh Thyme to bring it to life, Parsley would be good too.