I decided to go back to some old favorites in the garden this year.  It’s been a long time since I planted potatoes and I’ve forgotten how wonderful they taste and how many pounds are harvested from just a few seed potatoes.  This year it’s about quick turn-around (last year’s funky weather was such a bummer for kitchen gardens), so I chose Yukon Gold seed potatoes

just 50 days from planting to harvest!

These beauties inspired my Mission Possible Great Outdoors Challenge entry – create a great picnic potato salad using as many ingredients as I could find from our own garden – filling in the rest with as many ingredients as I can that are grown or produced within 100 miles of our home (the 100 Mile Food Challenge)

I found two volunteer arugula plants growing beside this year’s tomatoes that were just the right size for a salad.

Chives and parsley are growing in a windowsill planter.  Then we “borrowed” a few Meyer lemons from our neighbor’s tree (we’ll be paying them back in zucchini later this summer).

I love framing the garden bounty with a window from our friend’s 100 year old home in Mendocino, CA.  Makes me feel like she’s here with us at the patio table.

Potatoes steamed, vegetables prepared, all mixed together with my lemon potato salad dressing and – voila!  The best Spring New Potato Salad EVER! Click here to go directly to the recipe  Mr. Hensongs gives it two thumbs up.

Add a red and white checked table cloth and wicker picnic basket ( a flea market find), vintage picnic salt and pepper shakers from my Mom, and vintage silverware from my Mother-In-Law, red acrylic salad plates (75% off an an end-of-season sale) and we’re ready for this year’s picnic season.

Linda’s Spring New Potato Salad

Ingredients

3 cups Yukon Gold potatoes (with skin), cut in about 1 inch cubes.

1 small white onion, diced

1 tablespoon bacon grease (mine is from local Prather Ranch bacon)

1/4 cup Meyer Lemon juice

2 tablespoons water

2-3 tablespoon organic cane sugar

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons chopped parsley

2 tablespoons chopped chives

Method

Cook the potatoes until fork-tender in enough water to cover (not more than about 8 minutes for fresh potatoes).

Note: If you have more than 3 cups of potatoes, just increase the remaining dressing ingredients.

Drain potatoes and put into a serving dish.

Heat the bacon grease in a heavy pan, add onions and saute until golden. Add the lemon juice to deglaze the pan.  Add sugar to taste (if you use lemons that are more tart, you’ll want more sugar), salt, and pepper.

Toss the parsley and chives with the potatoes, add the warm dressing and mix gently.  Garnish with shaved Pecorino Romano and  pile onto arugula that has been dressed lightly with just some vinegar and oil.  Serve warm or at room temperature.