POTATO SALAD

Father's day is not something we heavily celebrated growing up, as my dad is not the celebrated type. He doesn't like his birthday either, and usually escapes to the cottage, as is the case this year. My husband also doesn't get the concept, so, after a very healthy breakfast of buttermilk donuts, in lieu of a father's day cake for my husband and father of my two beautiful daughters, we celebrated the dads in his family with a BBQ at my in-laws.

I was in charge of the potato salad. Unfortunately, I'm very, very picky about "traditional" potato salad. The only one I like comes from Walmart and is full of MSG and other heavily processed, nasty things. So whenever I make potato salad, I make this non traditional, yet, super yummy, creamy grilled potato and mushroom salad.

I'm not very good at making potatoes, but for this salad, I always grab a bag of pre washed teeny tiny yellow fleshed potatoes. For this recipe, they are boiled until tender, then tossed with mushrooms, oil, barbeque sauce, salt and pepper. From there, you can grill it on the bbq, but I usually just toss the potatoes and mushrooms in a pan and let the mushrooms cook, and the potatoes get golden. Once that's cool, you add a chopped red pepper, 3 green onions and 3 cups baby spinach, and toss the whole thing with a mixture of mayo, bbq sauce and chopped parsley.

Creamy Grilled Potato and Mushroom Salad
recipe source: Diana Sauce

2 lb baby potatoes, halved
1 lb button mushrooms, trimmed
1/2 cup Diana® Sauce, Original flavour
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
1/2 cup light mayonnaise
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander or parsley
1 red pepper, chopped
3 green onions, chopped
3 cups baby spinach leaves

Cook the potatoes in a large pot of boiling salted water for 10 minutes or until just fork tender. Drain and rinse under cold, running water. Transfer to a large bowl. Add the mushrooms.
Preheat the grill to medium-high. Stir 2 tbsp (30 mL) of the sauce with the vegetable oil. Gently toss the potatoes and mushrooms with the oil mixture, salt and pepper. Transfer to a grilling basket or line the grate with perforated grilling foil. Grill for 20 minutes, turning often until well marked. Cool to room temperature.
Stir the remaining sauce with the mayonnaise and coriander. Toss the potatoes, mushrooms, red pepper, onions and spinach with the mayonnaise mixture. Serve at room temperature or cool.

I love this salad because it's no fuss. It doesn't wilt and turn to mush easily. You can serve it warm, cold or a room temperature. It's really a perfect side for any BBQ. I always have leftover sauce, so I leave it out so people who want a creamier salad can help themselves. It's also awesome as a dipping sauce for grilled meat. I mean it's mayo and bbq sauce. How can you go wrong?!