Easy Potato Salad

Potato salad was my favourite salad for a long time, probably because it's not actually healthy - perhaps as a child KFC coleslaw edged it out of the top spot but it would certainly come much further up the list than anything with, say, lettuce in it! These days I would probably go with a nice Greek salad over potato, but there's certainly nothing wrong with having some of each, given the choice.

This recipe is very simple, not too unhealthy, and tastes fantastic - there's quite a lot of variation in the dressing used in potato salad but I love the fresh zing of the yoghurt used here - and it's so easy!

The concept comes from Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food (which, by the way, I strongly recommend for people learning to cook - it covers the basics really well) and is introduced as an "evolution salad" - you start with the absolute basics and can dress it up step by step as you desire. I often leave the last step - the addition of bacon - out, but this time round I cooked some and took it to our picnic in a separate container to be added on top, as we have quite a few vegetarian friends, so adding it to the salad would have been a bit mean.

The essential ingredients are potatoes, olive oil, lemon juice, natural (unsweetened) yoghurt, and salt and pepper to taste (Jamie actually claims the yoghurt is optional but I don't think it's potato salad until it has a creamy dressing). Then you can add chives and/or bacon to lift the flavour. It is great with everything, but it's always nice to know something will still have ample flavour-factor without some of the ingredients -  the bacon is by far the priciest part, and I like feeling the freedom to perform a cost/benefit analysis: will the bacon add enough extra flavour to warrant making the dish cost $7 more?

How do you make your potato salad? I know some people use mayo, I've heard of (though have to admit to being slightly disturbed by) sweetened condensed milk dressings, and I know my mum uses the leftover spuds on Christmas Day combined with cream to make her version. I personally really love the tang of this - and also that it's relatively healthy.

Easy Potato Salad (adapted from Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food)
Ingredients
1.5kg potatoes
1 Tbsp olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
600ml natural unsweetened yoghurt
a handful of fresh chives
4 rashers of bacon
salt and pepper to season

Cube the potatoes and boil in a saucepan until just tender. Drain and toss through olive oil and lemon juice, then season with salt and pepper. Allow to cool for a few minutes. In the meantime, chop the bacon into small pieces and fry (if using). Chop the chives. Toss the yoghurt, chives and bacon through the salad. Chill until serving.