Red, White and Blue Potato Salad

No Fourth of July picnic or barbecue is complete without a potato salad of some sort. We all have our favorites but if you want to change it up a bit and bring a little patriotic theme to your table, search out those teeny tiny red, white and blue potatoes.

I happen to come across some at my local farmers market last week and couldn't resist. These bite size potatoes are no bigger than an olive and they're just perfect for roasting, they have a tender thin skin so there's no need for peeling, and they cook up in a matter of minutes.

My favorite way to prepare them is to simply roast them in a hot oven around 450F, drizzled with olive oil. This time I added some red pepper to roast along with the potatoes.

When they become fork tender, which doesn't take long, toss them in a bowl and add chopped red onion or shallots, snipped chives, sliced scallions, fresh parsley, salt and pepper to taste, and lots of grated lemon peel. Whisk up fresh squeezed lemon and olive oil for your dressing and pour it all over and toss, as it sits it just gets better and better as all the flavors start to absorb.

I like to leave some whole and cut a few in half so you can see the vibrant colors.

The nice thing about potato salad is that it goes perfect with just about anything that you make on your grill or pack up for a picnic.

Sip something cold, relax and enjoy your weekend. I've been on an ice cube making binge lately, adding blueberries and rasberries to water then freezing the cubes and dropping them into lemonade.

Here I made cubes out of watermelon puree and mint, a nice change from the norm!

Have a safe and Happy Fourth of July!