#26 Russia: Olivier salad

After reading extensively about Russian cuisine, I did not have many options of dishes to make besides this one (as I do not eat meat or dairy or gluten). I got 90% done making it before I realized how gross it might seem to some people. Very 1950s! I can see this in a jello mold ad! Well, minus the jello.

Essentially, this is all the "sides" that I had on my plate growing up with a Norwegian mom (carrots, peas, potatoes, pickles), but... diced and mixed with mayonnaise. Yeah. Insert hair in curlers and white frilly apron.

I didn't realize it was so weird BECAUSE my favorite potato salad recipe in the world has potatoes and onions and chopped dill pickles in them, so THAT'S what I was focusing on! But then I realized... oh. We are putting carrots and peas in this too. 

Anyway, both Keller and I really liked it and ate it all up almost immediately! I guess that's one benefit of mayo?

On a side note, this "salad invented by a guy named Olivier" has many, many variations. There' a whole Wikipedia page devoted to it.  It usually has hardboiled eggs, but, I do not understand eggs and therefore don't eat them. It also sometimes has seafood (crayfish, lobster, anchovy) and meat (tongue, ham, bologna, chicken) and other interesting things (capers, truffles). The main driving force behind the whole salad, honestly, is mayonnaise. Great!

Salat Olivier

Ingredients:

3 very large red potatoes, or equivalent

2 carrots

1/2 cup peas

2 Tablespoons onions, chopped

2 dill pickles, chopped

3 Tablespoons mayo (I use Hampton Creek vegan)

black pepper

lettuce leaves for serving

Directions:

Boil the peeled potatoes, carrots, and peas. Dice the potatoes and carrots. Add all ingredients to a bowl and stir to combine, adding black pepper as needed. I found that it did not need any salt, due to the dill pickle chunks in there, but, you might want to add salt. 

Artistically arrange the lettuce leaves, and form the salad into a cone. Then, eat. (Unless you are taking a picture of the salad, just, skip the lettuce part and serve it in a bowl, honestly.)