Award Winning Smoked Potato Salad With Gorgonzola, Bacon and Jalapeno as served with Ribs

NoJokeSmoke · July 2016

Award Winning Smoked Potato Salad With Gorgonzola, Bacon and Jalapeno

You will see a theme here. We have several recipes that include this combination of gorgonzola, bacon and jalapeno. We have used this before but came up with it while trying to decide what would serve well with smoked “beef plate short ribs”. I have to give Kelley all the credit with (IMHO) this masterpiece. Even if you are not a fan of gorganzola, give this a try because the flavor is so subtle that is just gives it an interesting note without overwhelming your palette. We came up with this idea for the 2016 Texas Eggfest held near Austin, TX in Driftwood, TX. People really loved it and it really complemented the “beef plate short ribs” that we served wonderfully well. We are calling this award winning, because we ended up winning at the Eggfest. There were over two-thousand attendees that voted for there favorite dishes with around 50 cooks sharing their wonderfully delicious creations. It is such a great honor to be one of the winners! Thank you to all who voted for us! Enjoy!

Potato Salad Dressing:

1 cup Mayonnaise (we use Hellman’s)

1 cup Sour Cream

¼ cup Apple Cider Vinegar

1 tablespoon Zatarain’s Creole (Grainy) Mustard

1 teaspoon Underwood’s “It’s My Rub!” Power Blend

Mix all together. You probably won’t need the full recipe for the potato salad, so save the leftover dressing for coleslaw, pasta salad or sandwiches.

Potato Salad:

3 lbs. large Red Potatoes (unpeeled)

¼ cup finely diced Jalapenos

6 pieces cooked bacon, chopped

2/3 cup mild Gorgonzola cheese crumbles (I freeze the crumbles, then process in food processor to break up any large chunks. We use Treasure Cove brand. Inexpensive and mild.)

¾ cup finely chopped Celery

1/3 cup Italian Parsley, chopped

½ cup Purple Onion, finely diced

Salt and Pepper to taste

Bring potatoes to a boil in a pot with salted water. Cook approximately 30 minutes, or until a knife slides in easily. Have your Big Green Egg, or smoker, ready to go with hickory and pecan chunks. Have temperature at 300 degrees, indirect, and smoke potatoes for about 45 minutes to an hour. Let the potatoes cool off a bit, or put in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

Cube the potatoes into ½” cubes. Add jalapenos, bacon, Gorgonzola, celery, Italian parsley and purple onion, along with salt and pepper. Toss all this to blend, then add the amount of dress you like for the consistency you prefer. Also, any of the amounts on the other ingredients can be adjusted to your taste.