Hot French Potato Salad

Roasted potatoes and haricots verts with bacon in a Dijon vinaigrette

There are many languages bouncing off the walls of my house these days.  When we play Uno during Family Game Nights we're calling out the color and number of each card in a language other than English. My daughter takes French, and to keep her skills up this summer she's taken to replying to my questions/requests en français. Or at least I assume that she's speaking French--honestly I haven't a clue. I topped out my knowledge when she called a potato masher a "pommes de terre frappe".

My son is learning German online, which takes me back to when I first arrived in Germany and took an intro course on the base. Unfortunately we lived in a region of Germany known for hick accents, so while my son is speaking proper German, my spouse and I speak with a hillbilly accent.
Add to this the fact that my brain seems to have an English/Other Language switch, and when searching for an Other word it could just as easily come out Spanish, Finnish, or Japanese.  Languages that make sense to me.

I mean, this potato salad uses haricots verts. I'd pronounce that haricots verts, but no . . . hairy co-vaire my daughter tells me. If it's hairy co-vaire, why is there an -erts on the end of the word? Makes no sense. However you choose to say it, this recipe is yummy. It's a bold side dish on a plate, assertive with notes of . . . ok, so not my style.  This is worthy of a country who lost 4% of their population during WW1--I can't even imagine that--not to mention a tasty way to eat beans and potatoes.  And bacon, always with the bacon.

Hot French Potato Salad

8 large baking potatoes, cubed into bite-sized pieces
3 Tablespoons olive oil, divided
½ teaspoon salt (I use kosher)
½ teaspoon pepper
2 Tablespoons bacon fat
⅓ cup sherry vinegar
1 Tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon Dijon style mustard
1-2 cups haricots verts or green beans, cooked crisp-tender
⅓ cup minced sweet onion
¼ cup chopped cooked bacon

Preheat oven to 425.  In a large bowl, toss potatoes with 2 Tablespoons olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 30-45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes, until potatoes are tender.
While potatoes are baking, mix up vinaigrette in a screw top jar. Combine the remaining Tablespoon olive oil with the bacon fat, vinegar, sugar, spices and mustard. If the bacon fat is solid, setting the jar near the hot oven helps to melt it.
In a large bowl, combine hot potatoes, beans, and onion.  Pour vinaigrette over top, and stir gently to coat.  Top with bacon. Serve warm or room temperature.

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