Pota­to Sal­ad with Fried Pancetta, Lemon Grass and Goat’s Cheese Dressing

(serves four as a side dish)

1 lb small waxy pota­toes, skin on (I like Baby Charlotte)
3 stalks cel­ery, diced
1 large red onion, diced
4 oz pancetta, cut in cubes
1 stalk lemon grass, out­er leaves removed, minced

dress­ing:
1/4 cup goat’s cheese
2 tbsps sin­gle cream
dash red chili flakes
juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp mayonnaise

Steam the pota­toes till just ten­der, per­haps 15 min­utes. Mean­while, fry the pancetta cubes in a lit­tle skil­let until crisp and brown. Drain on paper tow­el. Remove pota­toes from steam­er, drain and quar­ter, place in a large bowl. Add the oth­er sal­ad ingre­di­ents and toss. Shake up dress­ing ingre­di­ents in a jar with a lid, then pour over and serve immediately.

I need­ed to pre­pare this ahead of time and come home to it, so I kept the pancetta in a lit­tle uncov­ered bowl (on a high shelf away from cats!) so it would stay crisp. Do not refrig­er­ate the pancetta if you need to do this, as it will become quite sog­gy and with a tex­ture like the clam­my paper tow­el you drained it on.

When ready to serve, mix every­thing well. Love­ly, fresh, unusual.