:: german potato salad ::

When my mother married into my dad's thick-as-bratwurst German family, she learnt pretty quickly that no dish was considered complete without fried bacon as an ingredient. This potato salad is no exception with it's generous amount of smokey, crisped fried bacon & onion. An absolute showstopper at every single party, and my brother's 'favourite food'.

Incredibly easy to make, this is my "go-to" whenever we're invited to a BBQ. The first time I made it after getting married and moving out of home, I made it so much like mum does that it set off major homesickness and I had a good old ugly cry!

This recipe is in quite large proportions, but it's easy to drop to a smaller size and add/take away whatever ingredients you like. Just not the bacon.

German Potato Salad

2kg washed potatoes (I used baby chat, skin on)

2 onions (I used one red & one brown)

6-8 rashers of bacon (the $5 bag of Aldi off-cuts is great for this)

6 eggs

bunch of spring onions/shallots

bottle of potato salad dressing (I used Kraft)

Method:

1. Cut your potatoes in nice mouthsized chunks and put in a saucepan, covering with cold water. You can also save time (and a pot) by throwing the eggs in to hard-boil along with it.

 2. While that is coming to the boil, chop your onions finely.

3. Cut all the fat off the bacon & throw away. Dice the remaining meat and fry up with the onion in a little olive oil.

4. Chop or snip your spring onions.

5. After the potatoes have been boiling for a few mintues, check they are just tender (not cooked to the falling-apart-powdery stage) and drain them in a colander. Put the potatoes in the bowl you will be serving the salad in, and start peeling the eggs. 

6. There is no need to painstakingly take all the shell off with your fingers when you are only going to chop it up, so cut through the middle of the cooked egg and scoop the middle out with a teaspoon.

Break them all up roughly with a knife.

7. Add bacon/onion, shallots and dressing to the egg/potato bowl and mix. DONE!

Served cold. But, while it's all still warm, get yourself a bowl and eat it right there and then. There is no beating it.

completely healthy "mac 'n' cheese"!

Healthy "comfort foods" are pretty hard to come by sometimes. And especially when you're trying to find a substitution for a creamy, soft white pasta dish. This recipe however, blew all my expections out of the water. Especially considering it uses all sorts of substitutions (like almond meal instead of breadcrumbs, and coconut milk instead of dairy milk) that you'd think would make it just that bit less pleasant. But no! This recipe is creamy, thick, more-ish and tastes anything but healthy.

And it's all thanks to the guys at "Thank God it's Paleo".

So ok, there is no 'mac' here.. it's all cauliflower. But with the bacon and cheese (yes, there is cheese but that's the only 'cheat'), and cauliflower cut up into small florets, the pleasure factor is just as high.

Ingredients

5 Thick Slices Bacon

1 Can Coconut Milk

1 T Arrowroot Powder, dissolved in 1 T Water (cornflour can be used instead)

4 oz Gruyere Cheese, grated

4 oz Raw Milk Cheddar, grated

1 t Black Pepper

1/8 t Nutmeg

1 Head Cauliflower

1/2 c Almond Meal

1/2 c Parmesan cheese

Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Chop the cauliflower into florets, then set aside. Fry the bacon until crisp, then chop into bits.  Set aside.

Over medium heat, heat the coconut milk almost to a boil in a large saucepan or stockpot.  Whisk in the arrowroot powder and continue stirring until slightly thickened.  Remove from heat and whisk in Gruyere and Cheddar, then the pepper and nutmeg, and then the diced bacon.

Add the cauliflower and stir well to coat with the cheese sauce.  Pour everything into a baking dish.

Blend the almond meal and Parmigiano together and sprinkle over the mac & cheese.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Bake at 200C for 40 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let rest for 10-15 minutes before serving.

Yum.