Friday Finds: Asparagus, Red Pepper, and Potato Salad

Happy Friday! I hope all of you US readers had a lovely 4th of July holiday yesterday! For those of you continuing to enjoy a 4-day weekend, I am super jealous. For those of you reading from the office today, I feel your pain.

I owe you a lot of update posts on where we eat during our trip to RI and recipes for the 4th of July treats that I served, but don't worry-- those are on their way next week. In the meantime, I have a delicious summer potato salad recipe to share with you.

Two potato recipes in one week. What can I say? I LOVE some potatoes. This salad is great because it is a bit nontraditional in that it certainly includes potatoes, but it is loaded with veggies too so it's an all encompassing side dish. It has a great sweet and spicy flavor and the dressing is dairy-free so it's also a perfect side dish to pack up and bring along to your next summer picnic. This recipe came from Dinosaur Bar-B-Que: An American Roadhouse, so it's the perfect side dish to pair with barbecued meat. The salad comes together quickly too, so I served this on a weeknight along with some simple barbecued chicken breasts.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. new red potatoes
• 1 lb. asparagus
• 1/2 large red bell pepper, seeded
• 1/2 cup red onion, thinly sliced
• 5 Tbs. Creole mustard or spicy brown mustard *I couldn't find Creole, so I used Spicy Brown
• 6 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
• 1 1/2 Tbs. brown sugar
• 3/4 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1 clove garlic, pressed or finely minced
• 6 Tbs. olive oil
• Tabasco, to taste *I sprinkled this in pretty liberally

Scrub potatoes and cook in salted boiling water to cover until tender. Without peeling, cut the potatoes into ¾-inch cubes and put them in a bowl. Snap off the tough bottoms of the stalks of asparagus and discard, then cook the tender tops in a shallow pan of simmering salted water until tender-crisp. Drain and shock in cold water. Slice the asparagus into 1 ½-inch pieces and add to the potatoes. Cut the pepper into sticks about the same width and length as the asparagus. Put in the bowl. Add the red onion.

Mix up the dressing by stirring together the mustard, vinegar, brown sugar, salt, pepper, and garlic in a small bowl. Drizzle in the oil, whisking constantly to make a creamy dressing. Add a couple of dashes of Tabasco to boost the flavor to your liking.

Pour the dressing to the vegetables and give the salad a good stir.** Serve right away for best color in the asparagus.

**I only used about 2/3 of the dressing and the salad still felt a bit overdressed. I would suggest you start by mixing in half, give it a taste, and then add more as desired.