Although I like the cream based versions as much as the next guy, I prefer the vinegar based German version, as it’s a little lighter and very fresh tasting. So here it is - try it out and let me know what you think!

Ingredients:

1. •3-4 cups of potatoes, I love the little fingerling ones, but if you can’t get those then any potato cut into one inch chunks will work. Leave the skin on for best flavour
   

2. •2-3 stalks of celery
   

3. •2-3 radishes (depending on size - more if you like it hotter)
   

4. •1-2 dill pickles
   

5. •Some white onion (1 small, or 1/2 a large)
   

6. •2-3 pieces of streaky bacon
   

7. •Fresh dill and parsley
   

8. •1/4 cup white wine vinegar
   

9. •3 TBSP water
   

10. •2 TBSP sugar (or for low-carbers 1 packet Splenda®)
    

11. •Salt & pepper
    

The Recipe:

Wash the potatoes and cut them into same size pieces - for the fingerling potatoes I just cut them in half, you can do what you like... Put them in some salted water and bring them to a boil, then cook them for 10-15 minutes, until they are tender, but not fluffy or mushy - they should still have a little firmness to them.

In the mean time, finely slice up the celery....

Cut the radishes into quarters and then finely slice them...

Quarter and cut up the pickles..

And grab a handful of dill and parsley and finely chop that as well. Keep behind a little bit of this if you want to use it for garnish on the dish.

Put all of the chopped ingredients into a non-metallic bowl, and check the potatoes for doneness.

Drain the potatoes when they are just tender enough to eat without any crunch or hardness, and leave them to cool down while you move on to the next step.

Finely chop the onion and the streaky bacon. Place a pan (I think a cast iron frying pan is best but you can use whatever is handy) on the element you used to cook the potatoes (may as well make use of the residual heat), turn it to medium and place the bacon in.

Slowly cook the bacon until it is relatively crispy. The point here is to render
out as much fat as you can so don’t cook it too fast and hard - this should

only take about 6-7 minutes to get to the stage shown here. Once the bacon

is cooked, add the drained potatoes to the bowl with the other ingredients

and put the bacon on top. Make sure to keep as much of the bacon fat in

the pan as you can.

Add the onions to the pan with the bacon fat and cook over medium heat until the onions soften and get a nice golden colour - should only take 4-5 minutes.

Now for the finish: once the onions are done, leave the heat on the pan and add in the vinegar (1/4 cup), water (3 TBSP), and the sugar (2 TBSP / 1 pkg Splenda), some salt and pepper, and mix it around. Let it come to a boil for 30 seconds or so and then pour it over the potatoes and vegetables and bacon in the bowl and mix it together and let it sit for a few minutes. The warm potatoes will soak up the sauce and you can then adjust for salt and pepper.

That’s it! Simple to make, and the flavours and textures are amazing - you get the soft pillow-y-ness of the cooked potato with the slight resistance of the skin, then the crunchiness of the celery and radish, the sweetness of the potato contrasted with the sharpness of the radish and the zing of the vinegar - both in the dressing and in the bits of pickle, followed by the salty bacon. Finally on top of it all you get a burst of freshness with the dill and parsley which to me says “summer!” in much the same way that smell of fresh cut grass does. It’s a simple dish that at the same time can be served with fancy food, and it has a lightness to it that I think is really awesome.

Have a go and let me know what you think!

I mean c’mon - who wouldn’t want to eat that?!?